Elves
by MaidenMoonshine
Summary: It's coming up to Christmas and Santa's elves are busy. Or that's how its supposed to be. Gibbs ends up dealing with elves of his own. Who's naughty and who's nice? WARNING: includes spanking as discipline of an adult. Multi-chapter. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**So, since I'm rather new to the show, I don't know exactly where this would be placed in the show canon, but somewhere when Ziva first joined the team and Abby didn't seem to like her a whole lot. This will be multi-chapter, so please read and review. In your comments, let me know if you like what I've got so far and leave suggestions for coming chapters.**

Abby Scuito stood in the mall, spinning around in place while trying to decide which direction to go first. Ziva David rolled her eyes and huffed impatiently. She still had no clue how she ended up at the mall with the Goth. Abby had been being nice to her lately and so she had agreed against her better judgment, but now she was regretting it.

"Abby! Why did you drag me here if you are just going to spin around like a jack-in-a-box?"

"Spin around like a top, Ziva. Jack-in-a-boxes jump!"

"The box jumps?"

"No! The jack inside does!"

"Jack like a person or jack like those sharp little toys that you played with the other day with the bouncing ball?"

"Like a clown!"

"What is like a clown?"

Abby paused. "Have you ever seen a jack-in-a-box before, Miss Assassin?"

"No," Ziva said bluntly. "Anyway, no matter what strange American thing it is, I do not want to stand here forever. Let us continue with the shopping or go home."

Abby spun around again with the enthusiasm of a puppy chasing it's tail. "But I don't know where to go first!"

"Where do they sell knives? Gibbs took one of my knives the other day and never returned it. I think he has sticky toes."

"You think he is a frog?" asked a very confused Abby.

"No! I think he stole it!"

"That would be sticky fingers, and why in the world would you think that Gibbs stole your knife! That's crazy!"

"He said that it was not good for me to have it."

"Wait! Is that the knife that I told you was illegal to own in America because of the way it is made?"

"Yes. He took it and never gave it back!" Ziva scowled, thinking of that knife. It had been one of her favourites and its loss still rankled her soul.

"So he confiscated it?" curious Abby asked.

"Yes!" Ziva was highly indignant and Abby wisely did not make another jab.

"I don't think he'll be giving it back then."

"See! He stole it!"

"Ziva! You could get in a lot of trouble for having that! Gibbs was doing you a favour for taking it off of your hands before someone else found it."

Ziva crossed her arms over her chest with a cross scowl. "I want it back. Where do you think he put it?"

"Why?" Abby questioned, her eyes squinted suspiciously.

"I'll go steal it back. It is MINE!"

"Not anymore!" Abby announced. "You'd better not try to steal it back from Gibbs!"

"Or what?" Ziva tilted her head to the side, rolling her eyes and fake yawning. "You will ... what is the word? ... tattle on me?"

"Yes!" Abby shot back, then felt riled when Ziva smirked at her. "No!" Ziva made her eyes go wide and innocent as Abby's frustration mounted. "Just stop it!"

"Stop what?" Ziva shrugged. "You Americans are funny. Thinking and speaking with no charge, but you really think that you can stop me?"

"It's free thought and free speech, and … augh!" Abby stamped her foot. "I don't want to shop with you anymore! You're not fun at all! And your idea of stealing your knife back will only get you in trouble - and that's me saying that! You've got to admit if I see flaws in a plan that it really has got to be a bad one!"

"You could not stop me if you tried," Ziva shot back.

"You are just … just crazy!" Abby looked around and gave a victorious shout when she saw the perfect way to get back at Ziva for making fun of her. Seizing Ziva's hand she dragged her over to a man in a Santa Claus suit, sitting on a bench next to a collection box for donations toward helping veterans in need. Abby figured that she would donate later but for now Santa could be her tool for revenge.

"What are you doing?" Ziva hissed. She did not try to resist - if she had, Abby would have likely been on the floor and unconscious.

"We're going to see Santa!" Abby announced. She pulled Ziva until the Israeli was standing in front of Santa.

"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!" Santa said in an obviously faked voice. "What can I do for you today?"

"Well, hello, Santa. I'm Abby and this is my friend, Ziva."

"I know," Santa said with a jolly laugh.

Abby smiled. "Oh, of course - you're Santa! Anyway, I was just reminding you."

"What are you doing?" Ziva hissed. "I want to go to the store that sells knives, not talk to some fiction character!"

"Just you wait!" Abby declared triumphantly, turning back to Santa. "Santa, Ziva is planning to be very naughty!"

"How?" Santa asked. He sounded very curious. Ziva rolled her eyes.

"My knife was stolen and I am going to get it back! There is nothing wrong with that!"

"It was confiscated by your boss!" Abby insisted with equal fervour.

"Then I will confiscate it back! I do not have to wear it, I just have to own it! I can keep it at my house," Ziva argued.

"You, not wear a knife that you own!" Abby scoffed. "Like that would be possible!"

"You do not know anything," Ziva snapped, turning on her heel. "This is stupid. I am not talking to you and Santa any longer."

"Yes, you will talk more about it," Santa said firmly. Ziva froze and slowly turned back. That voice did not sound like Santa. That voice sounded like ….

"Gibbs!" Abby squealed, giving him a hug. "You're Santa? You pull off the outfit better than I would have imagined!" Ziva paled a little and her eyes grew very big as she saw that Santa had pulled down his beard and was indeed her boss.

"Gibbs," she muttered. "Um, I was not ..."

"Don't listen to her! She WAS planning to steal her knife back!" Abby insisted.

"Quiet, Abby. People don't need to hear you two arguing over weapons," Gibbs reprimanded. Abby shot a glare at Ziva.

"But...!"

"That's enough, Elf Abby. You go on and do your shopping. Ziva, a word." Abby smirked over her shoulder at Ziva, then flounced off like a little girl who had just tattled on her sister and knew that there was going to be a spanking in the near future.

And Ziva was feeling as uncomfortable as a little girl who was about to receive that spanking. She huffed loudly, trying to act as if she was being inconvenienced by Gibbs. In reality she was trying to keep herself from running. She was not a runner when she was faced with conflict. She hazarded a timid glance up at Gibbs and gulped.

Perhaps running really wasn't such a bad idea. After all, being brave did not matter if you were not alive to be brave at a later date!

 **Yay! Chapter one is done - what did you think? Any ideas for future chapters? Please don't forget to let me know with a quick review. I try to respond to those who have reviewed, but if you don't have an account you can review as a guest and add your name at the end so that I can acknowledge you in the next chapter. :) Until the next chapter, have a good day! Blessings!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for this being so long in coming. I know that Christmas has passed and that was my bad, but I hope that you can still enjoy! Here is part two! Hopefully I will get part three up soon! Please read and review and enjoy!**

Ziva folded her arms stubbornly, waiting for Gibbs to get upset at her. She realized that maybe people would find this odd - she was glaring at Santa Claus. Gibbs was silent, just watching her. Ziva tried to hold out and wait for him to start talking, but eventually she could no longer stand the silence. It was angry on her side but she could feel the amusement on Gibbs side. She finally grunted, "I really do want my knife back."

Gibbs just threw a hat to her. "Put this on."

Ziva unfolded the hat. It was part of an elf costume. "What?!"

"Put it on."

"Are you trying to punish me?" Ziva growled, distastefully eyeing the elf hat.

"Nope," Gibbs replied. "Just put it on like I told you."

Ziva glared at him but to no avail. Finally she yanked the hat onto her head. It flopped to the side, mockingly giving her a comical appearance despite her frown. "Why?" she snapped. "You must be trying to get avenge…"

"...Revenge," Gibbs supplied.

"...revenge on me for something!"

"Nope," Gibbs repeated. "It's because every Santa needs an elf."

"Why me?" Ziva continued to gripe. She reluctantly but obediently took a seat at Gibbs' abrupt motion for her to do so.

"To keep you out of trouble."

"That's not fair!"

Gibbs looked at her speculatively. Ziva blushed.

"Well, why didn't you make Abby be your elf? She'd enjoy it!"

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?"

"She'd have too much fun. She'd be snapping stuff on her phone gadget."

Ziva found herself smiling despite herself. Gibbs had a good point. "She would," Ziva agreed. She frowned as she recalled Abby's tattling tones. Indignation flooded her as she hotly declared, "She wanted you to get angry at me!"

Gibbs nodded, turning his attention briefly to an elderly lady donating some coins. "Thank you. Merry Christmas!" he bellowed in a voice which, surprising to Ziva, sounded very much like the Santas on tv commercials.

"Your elf needs to smile or the children will be scared to come over," quipped the spry elderly lady with a salt and pepper perm.

"Smile, Jingle."

Ziva bared her teeth in a fake grin. Gibbs glared again. She adjusted the smile to more a little more normal. "You can make me fake smile, but you can't make me really smile," Ziva muttered under her breath.

"Check the attitude, Jingle"' Gibbs snapped. Ziva flushed, remembering Gibbs' supersonic hearing a little late. She tried to change the subject.

"Jingle?" Ziva hissed as shoppers walked past.

"Right. That would be an Abby elf. You are a Gingersnap."

Ziva groaned. "I've been tortured in more humane ways than this."

"So have I, but Director Sheppard made me come as Santa, so I am making you be an elf for the rest of the shift. Sit down, Gingersnap."

"Jenny made you do this?" Ziva questioned, her curiosity piqued. "Why?"

"Not your business." Gibbs' answer was quick and curt. Ziva smiled smugly and put her hands into her pockets. Her position as Elf Gingersnap was suddenly tolerable. She had known it! There were some very mysterious interactions between her boss and the director. Maybe her chance to learn more about them had finally arrived in the unlikely shape of an elf hat. But she had to give one more attempt to fight this unjust drafting that was threatening to keep her away from the specialty knife store.

"But Gibbs, I'm Jewish. I celebrate Hanukkah."

"Welcome to America. Celebrate both. Hello, kids. Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! Have you been good this year?"

…

After nearly two hours of playing the role of Gingersnap, Ziva finally stopped feeling embarrassed every time someone stopped to visit Santa. She even began to relax - a little. "Not so bad, is it?" Gibbs asked between groups of children. Ziva shrugged noncommittally. She was never interested in divulging enjoyment from obeying an order that she had resisted at first. She was rescued from answering by the arrival of a very hyper red-headed boy who looked to be around seven. The boy ran toward them shrieking, "Santa! Santa!"

"Hello there," Gibbs said, slipping back into his Santa persona. "Have you been good this year?"

"Uh, YEAH! Don't you already know, 'cuz the song says that you do." "Oh, yes." What song? Ziva wondered. "I don't know what I should ask for, Santa. Hey, Santa - Santa! - yeah, Santa, what would you recommend?"

Gibbs shrugged, then nodded toward Ziva. "Ask the elf, Gingersnap."

Me?! Ziva mouthed, then forced a smile as the boy turned toward her excitedly.

"Hi, Gingersnap! Neat name! My name is Jaiden. I'd like to be named after a food. Are gingersnaps your favourite food? If I was named after my favourite food, my name would be Pickles - or Strawberry Yoghurt. Hey, Santa, could that be my gift? Could I get a new food name?"

"Sorry. He's having a sugar rush," the kid's frazzled mother mumbled around her glove that she was holding between her teeth as she juggled her phone and a coffee cup.

"I'm used to it," Gibbs as Santa assured her. "My other elf, Jingle, is always drinking too many sugary drinks."

"I love sugar!" Jaiden, now self-proclaimed Pickles Strawberry Yoghurt, hollered from his seat on Santa's lap. Then he turned to Ziva.

"What should I ask for?"

"A knife," Ziva responded promptly. Gibbs froze; the mother gasped and acted mortified; Jaiden's eyes glowed with sudden interest.

"I want a knife for Christmas!" he shouted.

"Are you a scout?" Gibbs asked. Ziva could sense that he was trying to fix her answer, although she could not see why.

"No," Jaiden responded.

"Cadet?"

"No."

"Military?"

"Nope!"

"Okay, so I think that my elf was confused and thinking of someone else. How about a toy car instead?"

"A yellow one?"

"Sure."

"Than I want a yellow toy car, Santa. Please! Please, please, please, please, please …."

"Okay, okay, sure, great choice, buddy, I'm sure that he's got it" Jaiden's mom encouraged, snapping one last photo on her phone before taking her son's hand. "Say bye to Santa and the psycho elf."

"Bye, Santa! Bye, Psycho Snap!"

"Bye, Jaiden," Gibbs called. The mother shot Ziva a disgusted look as they hurried off down the mall courtyard.

"What is her problem?" Ziva queried. Gibbs fixed her with a stern look. "What?!" Ziva protested the silent reprimanded.

"You suggested that a little kid ask for a knife!"

"So? That was my favourite gift when I was five," Ziva defended herself. "What's the big deal?"

Sadness clouded Gibbs' normally piercing blue eyes. It was unsettling to Ziva. She saw compassion - for her. His normally unyielding firm tone was gentle as he answered, "Different place, different expectations of children." He looked at her and Ziva had the uncomfortable feeling that he could see straight through her. He began to speak slowly, as if taking the time to read the words off of the surface of her soul. "It isn't just that you are from Israel rather from America, Ziva - it is how your father chose to raise you that resulted in you being confused about this. It's not your fault. No child deserves to see violence and be raised to view it as her future."

Ziva clenched her eyes closed. A sudden painful prick to the back of her eyes alerted her to the fact that traitorous tears were threatening to make an unwelcome appearance.

"You don't know me," she muttered defiantly, trying to push the already-crumbling walls of her heart back into a functional defense. It was not a very successful move, but a slight twitch in Gibbs' face let her know that he had heard - and chosen to respond with a silence that proved her wrong even more definitively than any words could have in that moment.

She turned away feeling raw and vulnerable - and that was when she saw Abby standing with her arms full of packages and undisguised hurt splashed over her dark features.


	3. Chapter 3

**Yay! Another chapter! This is one story that I am loving to write! Now, for anyone who is concerned that I am being mean to Abby, I'll just have to ask that you trust me until the next chapter. Chapter four will hold more of an Abby-centric plot. If anyone is offended, I'm sorry. This just kind of wrote itself. I promise, the next chapter will be quite compassionate to Abby. I really do love her character. :)**

 **So now, on to chapter three! What will happen here? There will be lots of drama! Please read and review! Your comments are the reward that I get for all this writing so it means a lot when I get feedback! ;) Thanks to the two Guests, Runewulf, Hippiechic81, isles15, DS2010, Prince Bishop, Jessi, WildLifeHighway4, DU, misspatchesmom, Rosiesmomma4, and AmyV24 who all did so! Please keep letting me know your thoughts! I always appreciate it!**

 _What's wrong with Abby?_ Ziva wondered, her curiosity piqued by the hurt expression that was now in complete control of Abby's face.

"Abby," Gibbs acknowledged.

"Gibbs!" Abby's voice was full of betrayed hurt. "I came back to get a picture with you and this is how I find you!"

"How?" Ziva asked. She was still confused why her confusing co-worker was so upset to see Gibbs and Ziva talking to children. If anything, she would have thought that Abby would be happy to see Ziva in a situation like this, given her history of rejoicing in Ziva's misfortune.

"I didn't want a bunch of pictures." Gibbs remained unperturbed by Abby's mood. Ziva looked back and forth between the two, trying to figure out why Abby was so upset.

"So you chose her over me!" Abby shrieked.

"Abbs …."

"She's been here for what? A couple months? And you wanted her to be your elf instead of me?!"

 _So that's the problem._

"Don't worry, Abby, I didn't want to be an elf," Ziva said in an attempt to comfort. It backfired - spectacularly.

"She didn't even want to be an elf but you got her to be one instead of asking me when I would have loved to be one! Well, if you just like her so much more than me, forget about eating any of my famous Christmas cookies this year!"

"Abigail..."

"I HATE that name!"

Ziva did not know whether to flinch or laugh at Abby's outburst, so instead she sat next to Gibbs in silence as he tried to stop one of Abby's full blown tantrums.

"ABIGAIL!" Gibbs' voice was raised yet dangerously calm. Ziva had a sudden realization that if she was Abby she would be stopping right around now despite her own assassin training. It would not be worth that cold tight knot in her stomach that she felt at hearing him address Abby so sternly. Having him that upset at her would not be fun. But Abby, despite being a scientist rather than an assassin, was still going full steam ahead.

"I hate her, you know! I hate her! She's so stupid - she can't even speak English properly! And you just want to spend time with her. She's your special project from Israel so suddenly no one else matters?! She wants to steal her knife back from you and you let her be your elf! I warned you and instead of being happy you like her better than me!"

Ziva felt her stomach drop. _Just ignore her._ But despite telling herself that Abby was wrong and that what she was saying was not true, Ziva could not dispel the sting of Abby's cruel words. She nearly reacted but an almost invisible sign from Gibbs told her to be silent as he took over.

 _I don't envoy Abby right now. Wait - envoy? That sounds wrong. Which word is it? Oh, I'll have to ask Gibbs - later. MUCH later._

Gibbs had stood and deliberately placed a hand on both of Abby's shoulders, stilling her.

"Stop it," he ordered in a quiet voice hard with authority. "You are wrong."

"Oh, I am, am I?!" Abby demanded, still furious. Her mood did not improve with Gibbs rolling his eyes at her theatrics.

"Yes. Now, I am going to dinner. I want you and Ziva to come with me. We'll talk over dinner."

"Oh, so now you try to include me! No way! I bet that you were planning on just going with Ziva and leaving me out and now you are just trying to make up for it so I'll give you cookies! But it's not going to work! No way! You can talk - I WON'T! Go ahead and have your dinner. I'M not coming to your stupid dinner! AND!" she announced with a dramatic and sassy flare so typical of her, "You CAN'T make me!"

And with that an angry Abby turned on her very high, very distinctive heels and marched away haughtily down the mall corridor and out the door.

"That girl." Gibbs sounded both frustrated and amused at the display. He turned to Ziva. "I guess that you get to choose where we eat. Unless," he raised his eyebrow at her, "you are still too upset at me for choosing you to be the elf."

Ziva shrugged, trying to pretend that she did not really care. Inwardly she was delighted that Gibbs was wanting to spend time with her without everyone else. She finally felt accepted. Until….

Bu _t what if he is just inviting me because he had wanted to talk to both Abby AND me and now that she isn't coming he thinks that he can't let me down. Oh, bear! Or is it moose? Antelope?_

"What is that animal with the spots that jumps and has antlers?"

"What?" Gibbs looked at her as if she was crazy.

"Never mind."

"Oh, dear! It looks like Santa is leaving," a passing mother told her toddler, who's lip immediately began to tremble.

"DEER!" Ziva announced happily.

"Oh deer!"

"What?" the mother asked.

"Oh, come see Santa," Ziva told the little boy while taking his hand and leading him over to Gibbs. "You are very in luck. Santa has time for one more."

"Before dinner?" Santa Gibbs directed at her. She caught a note of hope in his voice. It reminded her of when she was growing up. The way the fathers of her friends had spoken to their sons and daughters was so similar to the way Gibbs was talking to her. Her father had never spoken to her that way. That tone had always evoked jealousy no matter how hard she tried to quash those traitorous emotions. This was the first time that it did not.

Ziva hesitated, then nodded. No matter the reason Gibbs had asked her out for dinner, she was going to seize the opportunity. The invitation made her feel important - like she was special to him. Like she was his chil…. She cut off the thought.

"Ready to go, Gingersnap?"

"Yes, Santa … I mean, sir … I mean ... Gibbs."

"Get your stuff."

"Don't have any." She slipped the hat off and held it out to him. "Here."

Gibbs gave a small smile. "Keep it. You might need it again."

"No way!"

"Now you sound like Abby."

Ziva's smile disappeared at the mention of the absent Goth.

"About Abby…." Ziva started, then paused.

"What?"

"Is…" Ziva drew out the two-letter word for half a minute before Gibbs interrupted.

"Having a problem remembering a word?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"I don't know how to say it." Ziva felt more and more distressed as she tried to think of how to say what she wanted to ask.

"I think I know what you are wondering," Gibbs supplied in a surprisingly gentle manner. "Abby's mad and hurt and when she gets like that, she can be … difficult."

"Nasty!" Ziva mumbled.

"What was that?" Gibbs asked sternly. When there was no answer he repeated, "Ziva."

"What!" she protested. He softened a little.

"Abby is no more nasty than her claim that you are stupid."

"I'm not stupid but she sure is nasty." Ziva paused at Gibbs' stern glare but refused to amend her words.

Gibbs ran a hand over his tired face. "You're both upset and both insulting each other for no reason."

"No reason! I have lots of reasons! She is so mean to me!" Ziva dropped her head as she realized something. She mumbled, "And you let her."

Gibbs sighed. "I'll explain later."

"But..."

"Are you hungry?"

"Yes, but…."

"No buts. We're getting dinner and we'll talk."

Ziva tightened her jaw, but Gibbs steered her toward the door.

"Nope, don't you go march off too. I've had enough of that today." Ziva shrugged out of his grip and walked beside him.

"Okay," she agreed.

"Chinese?"

"Sure." Ziva looked over at him. He gave her a smile.

"Will you trust me on this one?"

Ziva sighed.

"Do I get a choice?"

"Nope. Now, the car's this way."

 **Next chapter … Abby! What's our favourite Goth up to now? And withholding cookies? How cruel! ;D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow! This chapter is about a half of the material I had wanted to include. I really found my "Abby" ideas and went to it. Now we get to see a bit of why Abby was so upset in the last chapter.**

A very morose Abby was seated at a tiny table in a shadowy corner of the lavishly decorated Chinese restaurant. It was her favourite restaurant and she was eating her favourite vegetarian egg roll, but despite that she was no longer her favourite mood - which would be happy. Instead she was sad - very, very sad - because she had discovered something that broke her heart.

She was no longer Gibbs' favourite.

Abby knew that Gibbs never really said that she was his favourite. He definitely treated her differently than his field agents, perhaps even spoiling her a bit, Abby admitted. No one had seemed to mind, and she certainly had not. She missed her own father so much that when Gibbs treated her like his daughter it was very easy for her to fall back into her old role of Daddy's girl. There was really not much that could match the contented feeling she always had when Gibbs praised her. The NCIS could have paid her with pennies and praise and she would have been perfectly content - until today.

Because no longer was she not Gibbs' "favourite" - now he did not even love her.

It was so obvious. He was Santa Claus, one of Abby's favourite people in the world. Well, not exactly a person. He used to be a person - a really good person, the nuns had said - and it was funny for Gibbs to be Santa because she really loved Gibbs and Santa so it made sense that they should be the same person, because Gibbs was like her own personal Santa always bringing her cases to play with and Caf-Pows to drink and she was always good - well, tried to be good….

Abby sighed, wringing her hands. A lonely tear slipped down her check. Her check where Gibbs used to kiss her when she was his favourite. The tear landed on her egg roll, making it appear just as miserable as she was.

Abby grabbed her napkin and scrubbed at her cheek with sudden anger. Why did that Ziva David have to come and steal Gibbs? Now it was obvious that he loved her much more than he loved Abby. After all, who did he choose to be his elf? An elf was like Santa's sidekick. Ziva was like his real sidekick in real life. Why would he not give Abby a turn? Why, did Ziva even celebrate Christmas?!

It was just NOT fair!

Despite herself, Abby felt her anger dissolve with several other tears spilling out of the corner of her eyes.

If only Kate was here. She'd help me. Whenever I'd get upset about something that Gibbs or the boys did, she'd talk to me and help me understand and she'd just let me cry and give me a big hug and wait until I felt better….

That was the true sting in the whole problem.

Deep down inside, Abby knew that she was being silly.

No, being honest, she was being selfish. She wanted to be the one that Gibbs worried about and favoured. She wanted to be by his side.

She just wanted a hug.

She was scared.

She was lonely.

She was grieving.

Abby had been willing to share Gibbs with Kate. After all, Kate was a friend. However, Ziva was not a real friend and Abby was not willing to share Gibbs with someone who was not a friend. Especially not when the non-friend was trying to take the place of the friend.

Even though in her heart she did not really doubt Gibbs' love for her, past loss had made her very sensitive in situations like this. And with all of the changes in her life over the last few months it had been tremendously difficult. Having one of her very best special friends get shot in front of her other special friends, then having an overly confident and tactless assassin come in and try to take her place was like sandpaper on a wound. The whole situation had easily set up Ziva as an "enemy" for Abby to direct her multitude of negative emotions toward. Now Gibbs clearly favouring that assassin, that … intruder, well, it was just ….

Abby wiped at her eyes again, blinking away the tears so that she could see clearly again. And there, by the door, she saw what she least wanted to see - Gibbs leading Ziva into Abby's favourite restaurant.

Abby's heart nearly stopped as she realized what was going on in that moment. Here she was, crying her eyes out because she was hurting, and suddenly Gibbs arrived with the "thing" that was hurting her most. At least that was how she would think about Ziva. It was a lot easier to blame everything on Ziva than get angry that Gibbs and Tony had not been able to rescue Kate, or that sometimes the good guys did not win, or that Gibbs did not seem to notice how much Abby was missing her big sister.

And only that morning Abby had decided to try her best at starting a friendship with Ziva by inviting her to go shopping at the mall. A quietly-made entreaty from McGee had been the catalyst, but Abby had seriously started getting tired of blocking out the new girl. After all, she did miss having another woman around for talks and girls nights and all the special little things that she could not really share with Tim, Tony, and definitely not Gibbs. Well, something went wrong with that plan!

Now it was time for another plan - one that would keep the stone-hearted co-workers from seeing her like this, with streaked make-up and weakness. It was time for action - Abby action.

That was why she immediately dropped to the floor.

"Excuse me, Miss, can I help you?" Abby looked up at the waitress and shook her head.

"No," she whispered in a raspy voice. "Just ... going to the bathroom. I'll be back for my egg roll in a minute. Like, one minute, okay?"

"Uh, okay," the waitress said, stepping back as Abby crawled past. Abby watched Gibbs and Ziva carefully before jumping up behind a fake potted plant. She then slid along the wall, attempting to "blend with the shadows", as she whispered to herself. She received a few strange looks - nothing abnormal. She then let herself into the ladies room and looked at herself in the mirror. In the next two minutes, she had to create a disguise for herself.

Thankfully she had her purse with her.

 **What do you think will happen next? Will Abby be able to create a disguise? What kind of disguise? And will she be able to get past Ziva and Gibbs? Leave your answers in the comments - who knows? If I really like your ideas I might add them to my story! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I know that this chapter is a bit shorter than the others but I wanted to get this part out to the public to enjoy. Besides, I found a good place to leave off for the night. Hopefully I'll be able to scrounge up another chapter tomorrow, but no promises. It will be a busy day! I am still working out some plot details, so if you want to have any input into what happens next, please leave a note! Your suggestions just might end up sparking some action!**

 **For those who have been commenting, I have responses before we start into this chapter! Thanks again for communicating - it is very encouraging for me to read your reviews! Feel free to skip over this part if you want to get to the story. I won't be offended, and this is longer than I normally include for an author's note. Sorry!**

 **isles15 - Thanks for the compliment - and I believe that Abby's feelings are not only going to be vocalized soon, but I believe that Abby will do it with style!**

 **Hippiechic81 - Hope I am not destroying your beloved Abby. They will be friends and sisters - some day! Unfortunately for both of them, they - especially Abby - do not seem to be in the mood at the moment. ;)**

 **DS2010- Abby is definitely going through one of her bratty moments but I do promise that it will get better - eventually. Just how? Still unsure, so it will remain a secret to all!**

 **AmyV24 - Always nice to have new reviewers! Thanks for stopping by! I love your suggestion. It won't be showing up in this chapter, but keep your eyes peeled for some mention of this idea in the next chapter. I'll give you credit!**

 **KrisShannon - Oh, Abby is definitely going to reach the end of her leash with Gibbs at some point. I guess that we just have to wait with Gibbs until that moment happens. Then who knows what will happen?!**

 **The end to the notes, let's start the chapter!**

...

Abby quickly emptied her skull-shaped purse on to the counter in the bathroom. A small smile came to her lips as she looked at all of her supplies. She most definitely had the items to be able to create a disguise - maybe even one that could escape the eagle eyes of Gibbs. After all, he was so entranced with Ziva that he probably would not have even noticed if she had remained herself.

But where was the secrecy and fun in that?

...

Three minutes and six second later, Abby was disguised - very disguised. She had taken a very white foundation and applied is very thickly. She then had drawn her features on with black eye liner, attempting to look like the painted Asian ladies in the beautiful pictures hanging around the restaurant. She did not have any blush but she improvised by mixing blood red lipstick with a dab of the foundation. It was bright, but she liked it. With her hair done up in a ponytail bun she had pierced with an extra set of chopsticks, she felt like her look was complete. Then she noticed her clothes. Not going to work with her favourite "Crazy Forensic Scientist" shirt proudly displayed. She looked around and came to the conclusion that she could wear her skirt, thankfully longer than her normal choices, as a shawl. Two safety pins insured that it would stay put over the graphics. She had been wearing skinny jeans under the skirt, so now she had a completely new look. She borrowed several silk flowers from a floral arrangement in the bathroom, promising herself that she would return them before she left. She pinned one on her skirt-turned-shawl next to her breastbone and used bobby pins to secure the rest in her hair.

She stepped back and twirled in front of the small, streaked mirror. She was definitely different from when she had walked into the restaurant. She giggled at a thought that popped into her head.

"What if they kick me out of my own table for stealing my own egg roll?!"

She giggled at the unlikely idea, the sprightly sound echoing around the bathroom. It made her feel a little better, but then she remembered the reason for her disguise and the smile fell from her face. She was undercover for a reason. She would eat her egg roll and rice with soy sauce calmly, but inside she would be thinking up devious plans to dethrone and deport the Israeli imposter.

"Christmas is coming up - lots of opportunities to be around the bullpen with mysterious sacks and stockings. Who can blame me if Santa agrees that Agent David is as naughty as can be and needs to move elsewhere to start over."

Somehow those words did not bring the joy that the laughter had, but Abby pushed that annoying thought - and the voice of her conscience, which sounded rather like the nuns and Gibbs scolding her in unison - far away. She shoved her disguise props into her purse before giving herself one last inspection before stepping back through the swinging door into the restaurant.

Abby looked over to her table and her mouth dropped open with indignation. She was quite unpleasantly surprised by what she found there.

...

"Sir, can I show you to a table?" the waitress had asked. Gibbs had shaken his head and lead Ziva straight to the table in the corner with an abandoned egg roll.

"Sir, you can't sit..." the waitress protested as Gibbs calmly pulled out a seat for Ziva and took one for himself.

"Yep, we can," he said in his calm, certain way. He looked at her and she melted away with a mumbled, "Uh, I guess...sure."

"You like to scare people," Ziva noted. Gibbs looked at her with the beginnings of what some might consider a smirk.

"Don't you?"

Ziva observed him for a moment before smirking herself. "If it is Tony, yes."

Gibbs gave a rare chuckle.

"But Gibbs, why are we here at the table of someone else?"

"You'll see." Gibbs leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and waited. Ziva was not so patient. She was really not that interested in waiting around for some mysterious stranger - unless...

"Gibbs, do I get to attack this person?"

Gibbs turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "If you do you'll wish that you hadn't."

"Oh, I never that way about anyone that I attack," she scoffed.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes a little and leaned forward to quietly announce, " I know that you won't wish it on your own, but if you attack without permission I will make you regret it."

Ziva was dumbfounded for a moment - although she could not think of that English word that described her feeling. She opened her mouth, ready to protest that she was an assassin and nothing in the whole world could make her regret her actions once she decided upon them - but then she saw recognition light up Gibbs eyes. She turned to see the subject of his reaction and suddenly the warning made sense.

Yes, it would be better to sit back and let him handle this situation. Oh, it would be so much better!

And she could not wait to hear the explanation as to why Abby was painted like a clown!

...

 **So there we are! What will happen next? Click that review button and leave your thoughts!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Loving this story! Thanks for the reviewers! Not going to go into names right now, except that I would like to thank AmyV24 - as I mentioned in the notes in the last chapter, I did use your suggestion as to what costume Abby might plan for "next time".**

 **My technique with this chapter - see how far I can let Abby get before needing to figure out what to do to make her reform!**

Abby's mouth fell open indignantly as she looked at her two co-workers seated at HER table. This had gone much too far.

...

Gibbs focused on Abby. "Hasn't this gone far enough, Abs?" he muttered under his breath. Ziva looked between the two of them before leaning back in her chair, her wild curls creating a blind for her to peek from behind. She, Ziva David, was afraid of nothing. But Gibbs looked like he might be someone that she needed to handle with respect. She was more than happy to be left out of this little altercation.

...

Deciding that she no longer felt like Chinese, Abby started to sidle through the restaurant toward the cash register to pay for her egg roll before fleeing. But first she needed to get past Gibbs and Ziva. She kept her head down and began to sneak along her way.

"Abs."

 _So much for that idea._

"Just ignore them," Abby whispered to herself as she continued to move along.

"Abigail." The tone was just barely controlled. Apparently ignoring Gibbs was not a wise move. Now what?

"Sorry. I not Abigail. No speak English," she announced in an attempt at an Asian accent.

"Oh, then what _is_ your name?" Gibbs asked in a dangerously soft voice.

 _Think, Abby, think! What is a name that I could use that is Asian._

"Abihel."

 _Oh, that's great! That's not Asian. That's the Spanish version of Abigail!_

"So are you Spanish?" Gibbs continued his interrogation.

"Asian," she spat out.

 _Wait, why didn't I go with Spanish? I already have the Spanish name - I could have been a Spanish lady in an Asian costume..._

"Kobanwa," Ziva provided. Gibbs smiled at her. Abby was irritated by the laughter that she detected in his eyes. She could only guess that Ziva was speaking in Japanese - which Abby did not understand in the least.

"Uh, Chinese mother," she covered her faux pas.

"Ni hoa ma?" Gibbs replied just as quickly.

Abby nearly growled. Today was just not her day.

It did not appear to be Gibbs' either as he stood and got into her personal space, leaning in to ask, "Have you been lying, Abigail?" His voice was soft but had a dangerous edge that demanded an immediate answer.

"Yes, sir," she mumbled, her gaze dropping to her shoes as she confessed.

"Do you like the consequences for lying to me?" Again with the quiet voice with the strict demand. Abby felt her stomach flip. No, she most definitely did not. She shook her head.

"Then stop this foolishness, sit down, and eat your dinner with us."

It was in no way a request. When Gibbs spoke like that, even the President and Queen of England would obey.

But Abby was neither.

She stepped back, trying to regain her space and stubbornness to put up at least a token fight, but Gibbs quickly gripped her shoulder and pulled her back in to face him. His blue eyes were sharp and stern as he rasped out "This is your final warning, young lady. No more."

Abby did not answer, simply twisting away with a sudden jerk and scowl. She nearly froze for a second, knowing that displaying temper like that when Gibbs was at the end of his rope was normally the straw that snapped the camel's back. However, he just pulled out her chair for her and waited for her to be seated before he took his own seat. His eyes remained trained on her like a falcon on its prey until she finally slumped down in her seat, giving up her fight. Normally he would be telling her to sit up and eat, but today he ignored it and turned back to Ziva who was sitting with her eyes wide and surprised.

 _I dodged a bullet, I guess. Or else, Gibbs doesn't care anymore. Maybe he cares too much. Not for me - for Ziva. Or maybe he is just nosy and wants to run my emotions - which he can't! Because they are mine! But who knew that he would figure out my costume? Next time I'll bring a bigger purse and ... I know! Have a spare habit that I'll borrow from the nuns. Gibbs will never catch me then!_

...

 _Nothing like this ever happened in Mossad! NOTHING like this! Oh, if I had ever acted that way I would have been - I am not sure how I would have been punished for acting like that toward my commanding officers, but it would have been harsh, and probably scarring. Wait, what did Gibbs just say? Oh, don't let him be upset at me!_

The Israeli girl jerked back to the present.

"Pardon, Gibbs?"

"Pork or vegetable egg roll?"

"Vegetable, please."

"Sure? The pork is good."

"No, thank you. I mean, yes, I am sure that I want vegetables."

 _Nothing will ever make me eat pork - nothing! It is not kosher. I don't even follow kosher, but I will not eat pig!_

Ziva shuddered at the repulsive thought. Gibbs noticed and studied her carefully until she mumbled, "I'm fine. Sorry." He turned to the other occupant of the table.

"You want another one, Abby?"

The Goth continued to shuffle her current cold egg roll around on her plate, her fork making tiny scratchy rings on the plate, but she nodded.

"Right, two vegetarian egg rolls and one pork," Gibbs requested as the now thoroughly confused waitress skirted past. She nodded, gave Abby a curious stare, and then rolled her eyes and wandered off, hopefully to return soon with their order.

"So, Abby, what is that with your...?" Ziva gestured.

"My what, Zee-vah?" Abby snapped. She kept her eyes averted from Gibbs, not wishing to see any further admonishment.

"What is that with your face?" Ziva asked with honest curiosity. "Is this some American custom I do not know?"

"Oh, yes, Ziva, it is the great American custom of gullibility," Abby replied snarkily. "It is used to drive out the bad spirits."

"Really? I had never heard of that," Ziva commented, unwrapping her chop sticks and holding one up to her eye and looking down its length as if it were an arrow that she was about to shoot.

"Oh, yes, make sure that you tell Tony all about it," Abby egged on the situation. "He will be so surprised."

...

 _There goes Abby again. Does that girl ever realize when to keep her mouth shut?_ Gibbs wondered, resisting the urge to condone Abby's behaviour by chuckling. He would never hurt Ziva by mocking the English that she had worked so hard to learn, but he got his own fair share of amusement at her innocent blunders and mishaps. He sympathized - he had been in enough countries that he had suffered enough misfortunes of his own, but still - she was rather gullible. However, Abby was not going to just get in trouble if she kept this up. Ziva aimed her chop stick and threw it past Gibbs' shoulder. He did not even move an eye lash. He had no concerns for his own safety - Ziva was a professional and any weapon that she chose to use would be very effective. Abby, on the other hand, did not know when to stop using her words as her own version of darts.

"I will tell him," Ziva referenced Tony, smiling as her chop stick landed straight in the middle of a pot of shrubbery. "Bulls eye. These really make good darts. Maybe I will have the other with my knife. If Tony then tries to make fun of my English than I will tell him about gullibility and then poke him with this new weapon."

"No, you won't," Gibbs stated. "Ziva, no chop stick weapons on team mates. Abby, no making fun of Ziva."

 _Has it really come to this? Refereeing fights like a father with two toddlers?_

"Wait, what?" Ziva protested, seemingly catching on to the fact that she was somehow once again the brunt of some unknown joke.

"Um, can I get a drink? I think that I will go get a drink. Gibbs, do you want coffee? What would you like, Ziva? I'll go get them from the cooler over there," Abby offered, eager to get away before the assassin got nasty too.

 _Not so fun when the weapons get turned on you, is it, Abby?_

"No, not at the moment. Why don't you explain the word 'gullible' to Ziva, Abigail?"

 _Now watch her sweat. Or not. What possessed her to dress like a clown?_

"Uh, weeeeellll..."

"Yes?" Ziva huffed impatiently.

A sparkle lit up in Abby's eye.

 _So she's thought of some escape plan._

"I guess that I confused my outfit's title, Ziva. Really, I was just trying to look like one of the Asian ladies in those paintings."

 _Distraction. Let's see if it works on Ziva._

"Why?"

"For a disguise."

"Why?"

 _Yes, Abs,_ why?

"To do undercover work."

Ziva looked at Abby suspiciously for a moment, nearly believing it, before spitting out, "You are a bad liar."

"Liar?!"

"Here are the egg rolls," the waitress announced, setting down her tray with nervous glances at the upset Abby and Ziva who was still holding her remaining chop stick like a javelin. The waitress's eyes flickered to the chop stick in the shrub. The tray was dropped with a rattle, and the waitress fled back to her safe haven in the kitchen.

Gibbs groaned to himself as Abby grabbed the plate that Ziva had been reaching for - to his surprise Ziva allowed the scientist to get away with it and silently took the other. However he noticed that her chop stick had disappeared up her sleeve.

 _Wonder if they need an extra cook tonight?_

...

 **Gibbs is going to need to do something, though what is "Santa" to do? Let me say, this chapter ended up differently than I had planned. I am discovering that Abby is a fun character to write, but also very difficult in that she, as in this chapter, can be quite contrary and get off track easily. What do you think will happen next? I don't know yet, so any suggestions are very welcome! I will try to update soon, but that depends on writing time and ideas!**

 **For those of you who are interested in a story aimed at an upcoming holiday, check out my new story "The Valentine's Chronicles". What is going on in the NCIS after Gibbs outlaws a party? Will he be able to get Abby to listen in that scenario? Stop by and see - it is a very different style than I normally write, but I am trying to update each day until Valentine's.**

 **Please leave a quick comment - I love my reviewers!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to spacekitten2700, DS2010, and Hippiechic81 for all reviewing last chapter!**

 **...**

Dinner passed slowly. Ziva regretted coming. Apparently Gibbs and Abby had some issues to work out and Ziva's presence was stopping any chance of resolution.

"Abby, want anything else?" Gibbs asked, trying to break the ice with the Goth for the sixth time over the last twenty minutes. Abby ignored the question.

"I'm going to go pay and leave to go home. See you both Monday."

"I'll get the bill," Gibbs offered. "Why don't you stay and talk?"

Abby stood and pulled her "shawl" around her more tightly as she turned. "In that case, thank you for dinner. Good night." Then with a dramatic swoosh, she was gone without even a glance at Ziva, who she had avoided eye contact with since teasing her about being gullible. Ziva, watching carefully from the side, could see the tiny twitch near Gibbs' eye.

"Do you need to go speak to her privately?" she inquired.

"Yep, but she won't listen tonight," Gibbs admitted. He motioned to Ziva's empty plate. "Do you want more?"

"Thank you, no."

"Then give me a minute to settle the bill and then I can drive you home."

"I could take a taxi..." Ziva protested weakly. She did not want to be an inconvenience. Gibbs seemed to be able to read her mind.

"No, I'll get you back."

Ziva smiled. "Thank you."

Gibbs just gave a half-smile before he went to the cash to pay the bill.

...

"Did you know that Abby would be there?" Ziva asked, breaking the silence in the car as Gibbs drove her home.

"Yep."

"How?"

"She almost always goes there for egg rolls when she is feeling upset."

"Then why...never mind."

Gibbs glanced over at her, care evident in his tone as he asked, "No, what were you going to say."

"Why did you take me there?" Ziva gestured out the window. "There are hundreds of places we have gone and you took me to her ... what is the word? ... to her refuge?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I had hoped that perhaps the two of you would be able to talk and get to know each other outside of work. Maybe get yo to relax a little and get Abby to see you as a friend."

"I don't need to relax," Ziva protested. "Neither do I need to have Abby as a friend. She does not like me and I do not need to have my co-workers as friends to do my job well."

"I'm sure that you don't," Gibbs soothed, "but as you may have noticed, Ziva, my team - _your_ team - is a little different. We have been more of a family than just colleagues."

"I understand," Ziva nodded, "but I do not mean to destroy that."

"Destroy it? Why would you say that?"

Ziva shrugged. "I am not naive. Abby hates me."

"No she doesn't."

"Gibbs, she did not even want to see at the same table as me for supper. Once you paid attention to me, even though it was because you were upset that I wanted to steal my knife back, she was hurt. I am here, but I am only here because Agent Todd was killed. No one wanted me to be on the team - not even you. The director made you keep me."

"Just wait one minute," Gibbs stated firmly. "I will be honest. I did not want you on my team at first, Ziva, because it felt like it was some attempt to politically control me and my team. But now ..." he stumbled, "Now? I see the wonderful agent that you are, the smart woman, the beautiful girl that you can become if you will let yourself." He swallowed hard, Ziva mirroring his actions. She could tell that he was being honest to the point of vulnerability with her and she did not quite know how to take his words. Free love and praise had been no part of her life for a very long time. For the moment she still preferred to keep them far away from her heart.

Gibbs continued, "Abby has not been herself lately and I'm sorry."

Ziva tilted her head like a curious little bird. "You apologized. You never do."

"No, I don't."

"But why break your rule? You are not Abby. It is not your fault."

"No, I'm not in control of what Abby says, but I should have stepped in before it went this far. Abby has been a little ... bratty over the last few weeks and I believe that she knows it. I wanted to see if she would eventually stop but I should have intervened. I hoped that she would decide to trust you enough to let you see what a sweet girl she really is long before now. I know that it might be hard for you to believe, but she has the biggest heart of anyone that I know."

"I can believe it," Ziva admitted softly. "Every time Tony or McGee or Ducky or Jimmy or you are around her, her face lights up. She hugs all of you and does special things to make each of you smile when you are tired or have stress." She smiled a little. "She reminds me of my ... someone I knew a long time ago who made everyone smile and be happy." Ziva faltered over the words, unable to believe that she had nearly told Gibbs how much she saw of Tali in the "nice Abby".

"She'll like you too," Gibbs promised, slowly reaching over to gently squeeze Ziva's shoulder. The touch was comforting although Ziva could not fully believe his words. She was not going to build up her hopes just to let Abby knock them over like a pile of childhood blocks. Gibbs caught on, like he always did.

"Were you the same person when you were grieving as you were before?"

The quiet question caught Ziva off-guard. She felt herself flash back to the days after the death of her little sister - the anger at the people who had done this, the overwhelming sorrow that felt like it was ripping out her heart and leaving her broken and bleeding. The rage that had coursed through her when Ari had dared to finally laugh again several months later, the way her small fists had pummeled him as she screamed and hurled accusations at him until he had gather her to his chest and let her struggle with one word of reproof until she was exhausted and finally cried herself to sleep in his arms. She blinked, willing herself not to identify with that child locked away in the secret part of her heart, willing herself not to once again rethink the horrible circumstances that had happened since that day leaving her once again in mourning, once again secretly hiding the tears because her father never cared to be there as she wept. Before she had Ari, now she had no one.

 _I have never been the same. I never will be._

"I wasn't the same," Gibbs answered his own question aloud. He looked over at Ziva, his blue, piercing gaze capturing her struggling spirit. Once again he squeezed her shoulder.

"It does not excuse her behaviour - and she won't be getting away with anymore of it - but maybe when you think about it that way you can have a little more patience with her?"

Ziva, not trusting her voice, jerked her head in an attempted nod. Gibbs smiled as he pulled up in front of her apartment and parked.

"So no paper clips?"

Ziva allowed herself a tiny chuckle. Finally, a way that she could release some of her nervous energy without looking weak. "I guess not."

"By the way, hand over the chop stick in your sleeve."

Ziva reluctantly pulled it out of her sleeve and handed it over.

 _He does not know about the three I have in my knife holder on my leg!_

"Thank you for the ride," she said, unbuckling her seat belt and reaching for the door knob.

"Ziva."

 _He could not have possibly seen those others - could he?_

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't call me sir."

"Yes...Gibbs?"

"It's okay for you to grieve too."

Ziva felt her heart stop for a moment. She nodded and stepped out of the car without another word, waving before heading toward her door while Gibbs sat in the car waiting for her to get into her dwelling.

 _No one has ever given me permission to grieve before today._

She did not know what to do with the resulting multitude of emotions that were battling for attention.

...

 _Oh, please let him be home!_

The door swung open and a confused McGee was immediately nearly knocked down by Abby's desperate hug.

"Hey, Abby, why are you here? Is something wrong?" he asked with concern, pushing her pony tail out of his mouth so that he could speak without inhaling hair.

"Everything's wrong, Timmy. I'm in trouble and I feel SO guilty and Gibbs is going to want to skin me alive! Please help me?"

...

 **This time it was Ziva who took more time than I had originally planned. Oh, I love writing her and Gibbs! As having lost my mom as a child I can understand how grief can take many forms - from bottling it up like we often see with Ziva to acting out like Abby or a fierce drive to protect other loved ones from suffering like Gibbs.**

 **Now, that ending has me confused on what the next chapter should be? I had just wanted to get Abby to Tim's house since I want to include the boys and Tim seems to have the magical ability to understand and help Abby when she gets in a mess. But now with her confessing? Is she upset because of how bratty she's been all day, or has she done something else that we don't know about yet? The ideas are starting to come, but leave your comments as to what you hope happens next! I still haven't figured it out myself! (Much of this story creates itself as I sit down to type!)**

 **Hope you enjoyed! See you in the comments and the next chapter - coming soon!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I'm back! This will probably be the final chapter for this week. Don't worry - there should be more next week!**

"Abby?" Tim asked, gently rubbing her back while pulling her into his apartment before curious neighbours started to peek out on the scene. "Abby, calm down and tell me what's wrong."

"I can't!" Abby sobbed. "'Cause if Gibbs finds out he will kill me!" This thought seemed to upset her even more and she started to cry even harder.

 _What would I do if it was Sarah?_

Tim gently pushed Abby back so that he could see her clearly.

 _She must have just come from a party with that weird make-up._

"First, Abby, are you hurt?"

"No, not yet! But when Gibbs ..."

"You didn't kill anyone?"

"No."

Tim sighed in relief before slowly guiding the crying Abby toward his bathroom. He kept up a steady stream of calming speech. "Then this can be fixed. Here, let's go to the bathroom and you can wash that gunk off of your face. That will make you feel better, right?"

Abby swiped at her tears. Make-up streaked across her hand. She nodded slowly.

"I ... I... I guess ... so."

"Good, so we'll do that. I don't have any Caf-Pow! here but I have some soda, so you can drink some and sit on the couch and tell me about what has you so upset. Then we'll find a way to fix it, okay?"

"It can't be fixed! Not without Gibbs finding out!" Abby sniffled. Yet she seemed to calm down at Tim's words and let him hand her a soapy washcloth to remove her make-up.

Five minutes of smooth talking and comforting guidance resulted in Abby seated on Tim's couch, face clean although red from crying, twiddling her fingers between sips of grape soda.

"Now," Tim said, taking a seat beside her and looking her in the eye. She seemed to have calmed to the point that he hoped that they could have a reasonable talk. "What did you do?"

Abby looked down at her lap. "I ... I don't want to say."

"Why?" Tim demanded.

"Because I should be using this head start to flee the country."

"Seriously, Abby, what happened?"

"If I tell you then when Gibbs asks you you'll tell him because you can't lie to Gibbs!"

"Uh, no, I prefer my head in one piece so I'm not going to lie to him - that's beside the point. I'm not going to need to even consider lying, because you are going to tell me, then we're going to go fix the problem, and, knowing how things usually pan out when you disobey Boss, you are going to end up explaining to Gibbs yourself."

"Timmy! I can't!"

"Yes, you can." Tim was starting to get stern. "Abigail Scuito, tell me what you did."

A mumble came from the black crumpled heap on the sofa.

"Tell me clearly."

"I ... I ... oh, I can't say it!"

Tim scratched his head in frustration.

 _Why does she have to be so difficult when I am just trying to help her?_

"Fine," he said calmly, reaching for his cell phone. "If you feel like you can't talk to me how about Tony?"

"TONY! I can't talk to him."

"Then tell me."

"Tim, I told you, I can't!"

Tim brought up Gibbs' number on his cell phone and held it out to Abby.

"Obviously you need help and since you came here, I'm guessing that you wanted my help. Now explain or I can call Gibbs and tell him that you are here, terrified that he's going to make you our next victim, and ask him if he knows why you're behaving like this."

"NO! Don't call him. PLEASE, don't call Gibbs!" Abby begged, hastily pushing Tim's phone away. "I'll ... I'll tell you."

"Then start talking." Tim slipped his cell phone back into his pocket, sincerely hoping that Abby was exaggerating and that this was not going to result in him having to hand her over to Gibbs. But seeing how the normally confident Goth, who could generally get away with anything when it came to Gibbs, was crying on his couch, Tim did not have much hope of a peaceful resolution. However he pushed aside his own feelings of confusion and annoyance and prepared to be the calming big brother.

"So how did it start?"

Between blowing her nose and crying, Abby started telling the whole story of going to the mall with Ziva, Gibbs obviously ignoring the fact that Ziva was a knife-thief-wannabe, and his choosing Ziva to be his elf.

"Then what?" Tim prompted, thoroughly lost by this point but knowing that Abby's stories generally stretched out for a long time before she got to the point. With Abby there was always a backstory.

"Then I saw them and I got mad."

"Oh, great," Tim moaned sarcastically. He could guess how this was going to go. He had heard Abby vent about Ziva many times already. He personally really liked the Israeli, especially how she was an equal to Tony and could pester the older agent the way that Tony pestered Tim. Yet he could understand that Abby, who hated change, would find it hard. Everyone had found it hard - even Gibbs had not wanted Ziva to sit at Kate's desk. But everyone besides Abby had gotten over their resentment, sensibly realizing that Kate was gone but that was not any fault of Ziva's. If anything, Tim felt that Kate would have been pleased to have such a confident agent take over her role as Tony's tormentor. The thought nearly made him laugh until he remembered that Abby was still in the middle of confessing.

"I, I said mean things and ran off and left them behind."

"So your mouth ran away with you again?"

"Yeah." Shame tinged Abby's voice. Tim gave a relieved sigh.

"Well, that wasn't nice, but you can apologize Monday and everything will get better. It's not like there's any of us who haven't said something that we didn't mean."

Abby slumped a little more. "But that's not all."

Tim suppressed a groan. He passed Abby another tissue with the order "Continue, then."

Abby took a deep breath and dashed through the rest of her story with one wildly long sentence. "Then I went for Chinese and Gibbs showed up with Ziva and then I went to create a disguise since I did not want him to see me and then when I came out of the bathroom they were both at my table and then I tried to get past and Gibbs stopped me and warned me not to lie and then I was still being mean and then I left and I was so mad that I ... I did something really bad!"

Tim reached over and gently tipped Abby's chin so that he could look her straight in the eye.

"I figured. Now, what exactly was the bad thing that you did?"

Abby gulped and ducked her head. Tim nearly reached for his cell phone again but then he heard the soft question, "You know how Gibbs leaves his house unlocked?"

Tim felt his stomach drop. _Abby, you really are going to be dead if you did what I think that you did._

"Well, I went inside and I ... rearranged his furniture."

"How?"

"I moved it all to block his door to the basement."

"What else?"

 _There is no way that she would start and simply end with that._

"I played a couple pranks."

"What kind of pranks?"

"I reprogrammed his coffee machine. I added salt to his coffee grinds."

 _Yep, you really ARE dead, Abby. Never mess with a Marine's coffee. How could you be so foolish?!_

But she was not finished.

"And ... before I moved all of the furniture I ... decorated his boat."

"How?"

Tim had no clue how he kept his voice neutral. Probably extreme shock that anyone would try to play that many "pranks" on their boss.

"Silly string."

 _At least that will come off. Maybe he won't bury her alive after all._

"And ... you know how he doesn't lock his house?"

"You already mentioned that."

"Well, you know how he doesn't carry a key because he doesn't lock his house?"

 _Abby, tell me you didn't._

"I locked all the windows and doors behind me when I left."

 _Of course you did._ _At least I can say that you were a spunky risk-taker when I'm asked to say your eulogy._

"Where should I hide, Tim? He will be so upset!"

 _Upset may be an understatement. You sass him all day and lock him out of his own house at night? What has possessed you?_

"First, you're not going to hide," Tim managed to state in a calm voice.

"I'm not?"

"Nope. Grab your coat. We're heading to Gibbs'."

"What! Why?"

"WHY?! I'm taking my lock picking device over there. Abigail, we've got to at least try to get his house unlocked before he gets home or you really are dead!"

And with that comforting statement, Tim was dragging her out the door down to his car as fast as he could go.

...

 **Thanks to Guest and DS2010 for their recent reviews. If you too are enjoying this story, please comment and let me know! Also, in the comments different people have suggested that Abby is headed for a spanking for her misbehaviour. I was wondering if that is how the readers think that Gibbs should deal with her. She is definitely in trouble after all the stuff that she has put him through (in just one day! Poor Gibbs!), but I would like to hear your suggestions on how Gibbs should react.**

 **The next chapter will hopefully be up sometime early next week! Until then, check out "The Valentine's Chronicles", which I will still try to be updating every day. Until next time, read, review, relax, and enjoy!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you for your patience while waiting for me to update this story! I was away since last Thursday and am hoping to get back to it on a more regular basis once again. This is a story that I thoroughly enjoy writing - I love the characters so rich with quirks!**

 **I was so glad to get so many comments on the last chapter. I appreciated everyone's input. There will be spanking in this story coming up, so if you are uncomfortable with that then please read the author's notes at the top of the chapters. This chapter does not contain spanking, although it does mention it as a way that Gibbs has dealt with Abby in the past.**

 **Special thanks to AmyV24 (sorry, but you were in the minority of how to deal with Abby), Hippiechic81, DS2010, spacekitten2700, WildLifeHighway4, Guest, and KrisShannon for all of the reviews. Love hearing from you all!**

...

"Tim, are you sure that I can't just disappear into the night?" Abby whined as he pulled her up the steps to Gibbs' house.

"Do that and I'll chase you down and start disciplining you myself before handing you over to Boss," Tim snapped, thoroughly frustrated with his friend. After listening to Abby moan and groan about her misfortune for the last ten minutes in the car, he was all out of sympathy. It was obvious that this was not one of her situations that she tumbled into by accident - after hearing her confessions he knew that all of her disobedience and disrespect had been planned. He did not feel sorry for Abby. Instead he felt sorry for Ziva, the knife-heist-wannabe-newbie struggling to fit in to their little work family, a situation not helped by Abby's senseless sabotaging those fragile emotions. He felt sorry for Gibbs who had been dealing with the crazy girls all day and was now coming home, unsuspecting of the scene that awaited him. He felt sorry for himself who was out in the cold, the big brother forcing baby sister to own up to her actions.

Well, he did suppose that he could feel a little bit sorry for Abby - because when Gibbs arrived she was going to be VERY sorry herself! This was a fact that Abby seemed well aware of which resulted in her trying to jerk away from Tim's grip.

"You wouldn't discipline me," she muttered.

Tim grunted in frustration.

 _Why can't she just see that I'm trying to help her?_

"You really want to test everyone today?" he finally snapped. He spotted a stool in a corner of Gibbs' porch and tugged his reluctant companion over, ignoring her yelps of protest. In one more tug he had her seated on it. "Stay there," he ordered. Abby's eyes grew big as she realized that he had just put in a corner, seated in a type of time-out. Her mouth fell open indignantly. Tim spoke up before she had a chance to say another word. "Stay there. I can't have you seeing how I use this." He waved the lock-picking device. "Gibbs would have my head if I showed you how it worked."

"I'm sure I could figure it out on my own," Abby mumbled while remaining seated, seeming slightly subdued by her position in the corner.

Tim ignored her, hurrying to work on the lock. As annoyed as he was with Abby, he never could leave her in a mess - even if it was of her own creation. Abby seemed to realize this too because next time he glanced at her she was still seated, head bent repentantly and a stray tear meandering down her nose.

"Thank you for helping me, Tim," she whispered. He gave her a small smile.

"That's what big brothers do."

Abby's head dropped farther and she reached up to wipe away the tear now beaded on the tip of her nose.

"You could have just left me to face the consequences on my own. You really didn't need to come," she whispered again.

"I know." Tim stepped over and gave her a quick hug. "But I love you too much to do that to you. Besides, I don't know if you would have been able to get yourself back over here without some help."

He turned back to the door. Just as he finally thought that he had figured it out, he heard a tiny gasp from Abby. Turning, he saw her frozen to her seat, eyes big with trepidation as she watched Gibbs pull into the driveway.

And the door was still locked.

...

Gibbs had driven away after seeing that Ziva was safely in her apartment. He rubbed his face, tired.

 _My girls. Far too much drama._

"My girls," he repeated the phrase in surprise.

Kate had been his girl, and Abby most definitely was.

 _But when did Ziva become "mine"?_

It was a question without a definite answer. It did not really matter anyway. She was now one of his daughters. Ziva, of course, did not know this. Likely would not know for a long time. Probably could not know what a true father was until time stepped in and allowed demonstrations between the two.

 _But someday - someday she will know_ , he promised himself.

Meanwhile, there was his other girl, the one who most certainly knew that she was his.

Abby.

 _My girl - my crazy girl._

Gibbs sighed.

 _What has gotten into her today?_

First, dragging Ziva over to some strange Santa Claus to complain about Ziva wanting to steal knives. Thank goodness it was Gibbs, not some poor guy who would have reported it. Under normal circumstances he would have pulled her aside and given her a scolding, likely accompanied by a couple of swats to enforce the need to shape up. Being Santa did not allow for that, nor did dealing with Ziva. So Abby had gotten away with it. Likewise with the tantrum following her discovery that Ziva was his elf.

 _I should have stopped her then,_ Gibbs mused. He turned into his neighbourhood as he continued to run over his day with Abby.

The restaurant. What was she trying to attempt by painting her face like that? The ignoring and lying to him were things that she very rarely did - for good reason. Yet today? Today she did both, seemingly without any concern for consequences. He had given her a warning, yes, but normally by that point he would have been taking her aside to deal with her behaviour with appropriate consequences. Normally she never would have gotten to that point - partially because she did not want to push him to that point, partially because she knew that he would not let her push him to that point. And after he warned her? She still provoked Ziva and seemed to lose all of her manners within five seconds.

 _I let her get away with it._

He was at a stop sign, so Gibbs head slapped himself. The one thing that Abby needed above everything else in her life was consistency. With all of the crazy work schedules, different romantic interests, and changes in her life, he had tried to be that consistent rock for her to lean on, to be the rock for her rest.

 _I failed to do that today._

Gibbs groaned. A couple of times before he had allowed Abby to run away with her actions, go well past the bounds that he had given her. He had not believed that it mattered too much back then. It was irritating, yes, but Abby was a grown up and she could chose her actions just as he could.

None of those times had gone well. They had all ended with the entire team mad at their forensic scientist who invariably ended up at his house being given a very deserved punishment much too late. After those few problems - which normally would have had any one else fired - and quite a few serious talks with his "daughter", he had learned how to manage her better, rewarding or scolding, bribing or swatting, praising or grounding, hugging or spanking as the situation required. Abby trusted him like her father. They had bad moments but many more good ones. Although she hated being disciplined with a passion, she always came around to his viewpoint and the end and moved on with life, trusting him and her "siblings" to watch out for her best interests.

 _But then Kate died._

That one event had shattered Abby's world. Dead sister, confused brothers, distant father - _so_ _distant_ \- and vanished consistency.

Maybe it would have been okay if he had finally stepped back into his role as dad earlier, but having a new team member trying to assimilate to the States had distracted him.

 _I allowed myself to be distracted. Face it, you didn't want to focus on the reality in front of you. You didn't want to think of all the problems it would cause. You were selfish and focused on moving on so quickly that you forgot to check how your team was faring. You left Abby without consistency - the consistency that she so desperately needs. You refused to step in and discipline her, even once, when she acted out or was mean to Ziva because you didn't want to cause any more sadness, however necessary, in her life. You left her without a rock to lean on, and this is the result. And it is all your fault! _

Gibbs shook his head, trying to clear out the thoughts. Now, with some time between the shooting and the present, he was more prepared.

He was prepared to deal with Abby.

Not now - he would just leave it for the moment. He would leave her with the weekend to cool down. On Monday he would take her for lunch, talk to her about what was going on in her busy brain, and warn her that all this acting out needed to stop or there would be consequences once again. They would both be calm, he would listen to her reasoning no matter how crazy, he would get her to listen to reason, they would end the discussion with more calmness than either had felt for a long time. If she continued to disobey, he would spank her and they would move on at last. Abby would accept Ziva, and Christmas would be okay, even with Kate gone.

It would all be okay.

 _Tonight I'll work on the boat. I need some time to relax._

Gibbs pulled up to his house, a frown creasing his forehead as he recognized Tim's car.

 _Why is McGee...?_

Then he noticed the agent busily working on his front door and the dejected black-clad figure sitting on a stool in the corner of the porch.

 _Something tells me that Abby is behind all of this - and that this evening will be anything but relaxing. I'm guessing that Monday's planned talk with be taking place tonight - with some alterations._

Abby was not going to be a very happy girl.

...

 **Oh, dear, Abby! Gibbs will NOT be happy either.**

 **Please remember to leave a comment! Thanks! MaidenMoonshine**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you to all who have exercised patience for me to update this story. I had to put "The Valentine's Chronicles" as my main priority but I have been itching to get back to this story! Just a warning - this chapter includes the disciplinary spanking of Abby by Gibbs. If you don't like that type of story, please skip to the next chapter (when it becomes available).  
**

 **This ended up being extremely long but I couldn't break it up.**

 **Thanks to BohoAngel, spacekitten2700, DS2010, and hippiechic81 for the reviews!**

 **...**

Gibbs sat in his parked car for a minute, trying to gather any vestiges of patience to his soul. He had made a promise many years ago to Shannon that he would never deal with one of his children in anger. He had failed at this ideal over the years, but it was not for lack of trying. Tonight he would try again. He watched Abby wring her hands and McGee give a feeble wave before turning back to the door.

 _What is McGee doing? Obviously something that Abby has done, but how is he involved?_

Gibbs slowly got out of his car and deliberately walked up to the front step.

"Abby. McGee."

"Hi, Boss," McGee responded respectfully but Gibbs mostly ignored him, instead focusing his gaze on Abby who was equally as focused on not looking at him.

"Abigail."

Still no response, but she was flushed with what Gibbs assumed was shame.

"What's going on?"

"Uh, Boss, I'm just trying to help..."

"Not you, McGee, Abby."

"Ummmmm..."

"Words."

"WellIcameoverandIwasmadsoIdecidedto...to...todosomereallybadstuff."

"Words, not one long word, Abby." Gibbs walked over and took her arm and pulled her over to the door. "McGee, open the door. We'll all go in and then I want an explanation of why both of you are here. Not that I mind visits, but I don't think that this is just a social call."

"Uh, Boss, I would let you in but ..."

"But what?"

"The door's locked."

 _Wha...?_

Gibbs struggled to remember the last time that the door had been locked. He felt Abby shudder and tightened his grip of her, his suspicions suddenly becoming clearer.

"What did you do, Abby?"

"I locked your door."

 _Of course. Of course, Abby._

"I've almost got it open," McGee interjected with a hopeful voice, trying to deflect any of Gibbs' frustration. "Oh, here, see?" McGee swung the door open and slipped the lock-picking device back into his pocket.

"You didn't let her see how you used it, did you?" Gibbs asked, nodding toward it.

"No, Boss, no!" McGee shook his head furiously. Gibbs allowed the agent a half-smile before leading Abby into the house, McGee following both of them.

"Sit." Abby and McGee looked at him until he turned and saw what they already knew - all of his furniture was shoved against the basement door.

 _Breathe. Breathe. Remember your promise. Calm down, Gibbs, calm down._

"Just to clarify, McGee, were you involved in any of this?"

"Uh, no, Boss, no," McGee stammered. Abby, to her credit, spoke up although she kept her head pressed against her chest

"He just came to help me unlock the door so that you could get back inside, Gibbs. He was trying to help."

The quiet confession made Gibbs smile inside, although he remained stern on the surface. At least she was eager to keep McGee out of hot water.

"Then go home, McGee. We'll see you Monday, if no case comes up over the weekend. Thanks for unlocking the door."

"You ... sure? Yeah, thanks, okay, see you Monday." McGee was obviously eager to get out of the area before the showdown started, but he stopped and gave Abby a gentle kiss on the crown of her head and a comforting pat on her back before leaving the two alone - the naughty child and disgruntled dad.

 _Where to start?_

"Let's get the furniture back in place. C'mon."

Abby slowly nodded and began to help. Within a few minutes Gibbs' living room was back to normal and the doorway to the basement was accessible.

"Downstairs. Now." The order was headed although Abby dragged her feet all the way to the door. "I'm going to get some coffee, then I'll be down to deal with you. You'd better spend that time thinking of all the reasons that you're going to be disciplined."

Abby gave a meek nod, then headed down the stairway, making each step last as long as she could. Gibbs listened to her, hearing her shuffle across the floor and sit down on a rattly stool before turning to the kitchen and mixing a cup of coffee.

 _Let the caffeine work, then calmly deal with my not-so-calm daughter._

Gibbs raised the cup, then took a swig of the hot drink. He held it in his mouth, the swiftly went to the sink and spat out the horrid concoction.

 _Apparently even caffeine is a reprieve that has been denied._

"ABIGAIL!" he bellowed.

...

 _Oh, no! I forgot to warn him about the coffee! Oh, he's not just going to punish me - he's going to kill me!_

The heavy clomp down the stairs caused yet another knot to be tied in Abby's stomach, as did the dragging of a sawhorse so that Gibbs could sit in front of her huddled figure.

"Look at me."

The voice demanded, but it was surprisingly free of anger. Abby timidly looked up into the eyes of the one person that she respected above all others, her surrogate father. His blue eyes were calm, but questioning; tired, but firm.

"What got into you today?"

"I ... I don't know."

It was not a real answer and normally Gibbs would have immediately demanded a better explanation. However, Abby did not know if she could. She _had_ been trying to think of an excuse - any excuse - but she did not have one. Only that she had been hurt and mad and reacted in a totally childish fashion.

"I don't know either."

Gibbs' admission startled Abby. How could the omniscient Gibbs _not_ know?

"You don't?"

"No. I don't know how my brilliant girl managed to lose her head so much that she did not act reasonably all day. I don't know how she decided that acting out was the only way to get attention. I don't know how she decided that being unkind to a co-worker was either acceptable or advantageous. And I don't know why I let her get away with it for so long."

"I don't either," Abby echoed in turn. They sat across from one another, each silent, each pondering, each dreading what lay ahead.

"Any more tricks?"

 _Oh no! The boat!_

"Uh, yeah."

A quiet sigh, then "What is it?"

"Your ... your ..." _When did I eat sawdust?_ "Your boat."

...

Gibbs stood and walked over to the boat, expecting mass destruction. Instead he found silly string draping it. Still bad, still enough to merit trouble, yet significantly better than what he would have expected.

"Then get your backside over here and help me get it off. While we work, you talk."

"Yes, sir," Abby mumbled as she hurried over, pointedly staying out of arm's reach while she began to pull off the colourful strands.

"Why did you come to my house and play these pranks?"

"I was upset."

"Not gonna cut it. I want a reason."

Abby fell silent, but a quick glance at her face revealed that she was not being stubborn but simply thinking. Gibbs worked beside her, the motion helping them both relax as much as was possible in the situation.

"I was jealous," Abby finally admitted when the last strand had been removed and only some stains remained. Gibbs did not reply, just gave a nod for her to continue. "I ... didn't want you to like Ziva more than me."

Gibbs walked over and moistened two cloths at a sink in the corner. He handed one to Abby and started wiping at the stains on one side while she worked on the other.

Abby continued. "I just felt so mad, you know? It was horrible when Kate died."

Gibbs stiffened a little as he did every time he remembered the bullet entering Kate's brain.

"I was angry 'cuz I couldn't do anything. And then Ziva comes and suddenly it is like Kate wasn't needed - which isn't true! It feels like the world should end because she isn't here but work just goes on. 'Oh, Kate's dead. Here's Ziva. She's an assassin from Israel - obviously she'll be as good or better.' I know, I _know_ that it isn't that way, but it is easier to think that way. I guess it just felt good to be selfish and be mean to Ziva because I was hurting and I wanted her to hurt too." Abby handed the cloth back. Gibbs reached over and tipped her face up to look straight at him as she whispered out the words he had been hoping to hear - "And I'm sorry, Gibbs! I'm sorry!"

He reached out and pulled her into his arms. "I know," he whispered. "I know." He held for a moment until she pulled away, looking down at her boots which she scuffed in the sawdust.

"Am I still in trouble?"

"What do you think?"

A tiny nod answered the question.

"Then go get the paddle."

To her credit Abby did not fight, simply obeyed and got the small paddle from the cupboard and brought it over to him. Gibbs reached out and took her hand. "Come on, Abby, let's get it over with." He led her to the sawhorse and pulled her in front of him, taking the paddle from her and setting it next to him. "What are all the things that you did that got you here?"

"A lot of different stuff."

"Specify."

"Um, I was mean to Ziva all day, I disobeyed you like a hundred times everywhere we went, I locked you out of your house which I ruined ... um, and being disrespectful?"

"Is that a question?"

"No. I was disrespectful. I'm just trying to remember if there was more."

"Add lying and breaking rule twenty-three."

"What one is that?"

"Never mess with a Marine's coffee."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Your behaviour at the mall was enough to merit a spanking. Your behaviour at the restaurant was enough too. And then here? I'm going to have to make this one count, Abby."

Sniffles. "I know."

"And if you _ever_ do _anything_ close to this again, I will be dealing with you swiftly and strictly, understood?"

"Yes."

Gibbs sighed.

 _How I hate doing this!_

"Ready?"

"Yes, sir." Abby slowly stepped to his side and bent over his knee. He held her, gently but firmly. He scrunched his eyes closed.

 _Shannon, I wish that you were here to take care of these kids. Wish me luck._

He delivered the first spank. Abby immediately began to cry. He forced himself to continue, each spank intended to reinforce his earlier words. But it was hard. Every swat hurt his little girl and there was nothing more contrary to his character than making the women in his life cry - except for letting them hurt themselves or others through their actions. So he continued, counting the hard, stinging spanks in his head until he got to fifteen. Then Abby began to fight him, kicking and crying.

"Hold still, Abigail," he ordered sternly, to no avail.

 _Every time. Every single time! _

He smacked her thighs lightly and she stopped thrashing around although her crying became louder. He delivered another four swats, bringing the number to twenty. His hand was starting to sting from giving the spanks and it was obvious that it was having the intended affect. Abby hated very few things more than a spanking, and she was definitely being impacted by the one being delivered by her determined dad.

 _If only I could stop now. But there is no excuse for what she did. No excuse for her behaviour. Keep going, Gibbs. She doesn't hate you. You both know that she deserves this, needs this. Be rock firm or you'll both regret it._

Gibbs slowly picked up the paddle. He hated using it as much as Abby hated receiving it, but it was necessary in some situations - like tonight.

"Hold still," he ordered again, then gave ten hard spanks with the small wooden implement, each separated enough that its full sting was felt to the greatest degree. Abby could feel it, that much was apparent.

"No more! Gibbs, please! I'll be good! I'm sorry! Daddy! Please, stop!" Abby squealed, crying in gasps between heavy swats.

Normally he would have stopped with ten spanks from the paddle, but tonight there had to be more. Bracing himself, he held Abby tightly and delivered the next ten in a much faster succession, eager to have it over but knowing that the deterrent had to be big enough for Abby to squirm every time she even thought of repeating any of her behaviour of the day, specifically being unkind to Ziva.

He set down the paddle and felt Abby jerking with her sobs. He nearly sighed with relief of being almost done. He raised his hand again and began to question his girl.

"Are you going to be so disrespectful and disobedient anymore?"

"No!"

SWAT!

"Are you going to lock me out of my house or prank me again like this?"

"No...oo!"

SWAT!

"And are you ever going to treat Ziva, or anyone else, the way that I saw you treat her today and these past few weeks?"

"No..ooo...ooo!"

Gibbs gripped her and brought down his hand for the final spanks.

SWAT!

SWAT!

SWAT! SWAT!

Abby sobbed across his lap, all the fight gone from the normal fiesty girl. Instead she cried, "I'm sorry! I'll make it all better! I promise! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

A tiny bead of moisture landed on the back of her shirt. Gibbs wiped it, and its twin from above, away as he patted her back.

"Good girl, Abby, my good girl. It's all over. It's all over and I forgive you, my good girl."


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: This chapter involves Gibbs comforting Abby after he spanked her. If any readers are uncomfortable with this, please skip to the next chapter when it becomes available.**

 **Thank you to those who left comments. I do want to clarify that this fandom is based in fiction. Thus, Abby is fiction. So is Gibbs. This story is not realistic _because it is set in a fictitious world!_ I clarify, once again, in this chapter that Gibbs only disciplined Abby out of love for her. Her response is that she knows that fact and that if she did not trust his love, she would not have allowed him to punish her. I think that Abby's actions clarify that this is not the first time that she has been spanked by Gibbs and that she does not have any real problem with that, except not liking it (like any other punishment). This is a consensual agreement to deal with her misbehaviour. If this story bothers you, please remember that you are free to click away and stop reading. Guest, please do not call my writing "stupid" after I have looked for reader opinions in earlier chapters and posted warnings later. I appreciate hearing from all readers, but if this story is so bad (in your personal opinion), _please_ don't keep forcing yourselves to read it! Go write a better story that you like and then let me know so that I can enjoy it too. :) For now, I will continue to write this story because I have several commenters who continually ask for more, and intend to give them what they appear to be enjoying! **

**I hope that did not come off as disgruntled or angry. I actually appreciate the varying opinions and I respect them. I just don't get why some people read stories that they apparently dislike for ten chapters before giving feedback!**

 **Now, to those who have left uplifting comments, thank you! KrisShannon, DS2010, spacekitten2700, and fiftyshadeswritergal - thanks! Hippiechic81, thank you for your review (delivered kindly) and actually discussing it with me! I love interacting with people and getting their opinions!  
**

 **This author's note is ridiculously long, so let's end it and get back to poor Abby!**

 **...**

Abby cried as Gibbs gently helped her stand up. He kept up a steady stream of reassurances and promises, praising her for taking the punishment without fighting. They all swirled together to comfort her as she stood in front of him, wiping at her eyes.

"You're okay, Abby, you're okay," he stated calmly.

 _Gibbs says I'm okay. Gibbs says I'm okay, so I must be okay, because Gibbs wouldn't lie to me, but I don't feel okay. My bottom stings so bad! Gibbs sure spanks hard! I don't like that, I don't like that, it doesn't feel okay. I'm sad because I let Gibbs down and was mean and horrible and bratty and bad - but I won't be anymore! I will be very, very good for the rest of the year - or at least until Christmas. I would promise, but if I break promises that would be bad and I don't want to do that and ... what is Gibbs saying now?_

"You're okay, Abby."

 _Focus. Focus. Blink away the tears, Abby, blink away the tears. You're brave and tough - no, you're not really but I want Gibbs to be proud of me! I deserved every spank and I'm not going to act like a baby and keep crying like this. It's no one's fault but mine. But it hurts so much!_

"C'mon, Abs, calm down for me. Can you do that?"

 _Can I? Can I? Maybe. I don't know. It hurts - and it hurts inside because I was so awful! I'm not like that! I'm always so nice to people. I like being nice to people. I like giving people hugs and surprise gifts and smiles and laughter, not being mean to them. I've been so horrible. How has anyone else stood being around me for so long?  
_

"Abby, listen to me. I don't want you to beat yourself up anymore. You've been disciplined and you're forgiven. We're still going to fix this together, but the bad part is over, okay? Do you understand?"

 _Do I? Do I? But ... what if ..._

"I still love you, Abs - always have, always will."

 _How did he know what I was thinking? How does he always know? And even though I was bad he still says that he loves me for always. That's good. That's really good. But ... but!  
_

Abby's body was still shaking with crying and Gibbs was getting nervous.

"Abigail!" he demanded more harshly than he would normally do so, but he was desperate to catch his daughter's attention.

 _Abigail. Is he mad? Oh, no! Is he upset that I'm crying so hard? I'm trying to stop, I am! Don't get mad, Gibbs, don't get mad._

Abby gave a brave attempt at pushing down her grief but Gibbs could see her struggle. Her face was expressive and he could tell that there was a lot more going on inside of her beautiful head than he knew.

"Talk to me, Abs."

The gentle request finally brought forth a result.

"I'm sorry!" Abby choked out around her tears.

"I know," Gibbs said, tilting her face to look him in the eye.

 _Oh, no! He wants me to look at him, but I'm too ashamed. Why couldn't I have listened to the first two hundred warnings and obeyed? I hate disappointing Gibbs._

Abby was slow to make eye contact, and even then she had to blink hard to remove several tears that trickled down her now-sticky cheeks. Gibbs reached up and wiped them away with his finger, much as he had done when Kelly had cried as a child. He continued to hold eye contact.

 _No ... it can't be ... his eyes._

Gibbs' eyes were moist.

He had been crying.

Crying over spanking her.

All inhibitions gone, Abby dove into his arms. Thankfully Gibbs caught her, pulling her into the warm and secure hug that he had been wanting to give her since before he even took her over his knee.

 _It is okay. I'm okay. Gibbs love me, it's all over - I'm okay. _

...

Gibbs gently rocked Abby back and forth in his arms. Normally he was the last person that anyone would go to for comfort, but his team had slowly learned that when it came to them, he was willing to do anything for them - shoot, scold, spank, slap, and even snuggle. He sat there on the old sawhorse, holding Abby as she leaned into his chest. Her tears dwindled away to occasional hiccups and she began to grow heavier as she relaxed to near-sleep. He sat in silence with her, letting time do what it does best - heal. The relationship between them that had been strained for the last while, especially today, was going to be okay.

"I only discipline you this way because I love you. You know that, right?" he confirmed. A sleepy Abby nodded against his chest.

"I wouldn't let you spank me if you didn't," she mumbled. "You're the only dad that I've got and the only person in the world that I would let discipline me. Well, maybe Tim because he made me sit in time-out. Can you believe that?" A tiny bit of indignation sneaked into her voice. "He made me sit on a stool in the corner of your porch!"

Gibbs allowed himself to smile since Abby was not looking at his face. Abby was back to herself. He made his voice stern enough to catch her attention as he asked, "And why exactly did he do that?"

"Oh ... um ..."

"Exactly. We all know that you deserved it, so don't whine about it, okay?"

"Okay," she whispered sheepishly before yawning.

 _The real wonder is that you didn't push Tim past making you sit in the corner and didn't earn yourself an earlier spanking from the frustration that he must have been feeling. Well, McGee is a good guy, a good influence. Thank God for him getting us in tonight or the whole neighbourhood would have been in for an unpleasant scene. I'll have to thank McGee next time I see him._

"It's getting late," he murmured aloud, partially for Abby but mostly just talking to himself.

"Mmm," Abby sighed.

"C'mon, baby," he instructed. "I need you to stand up."

"D'wanna," Abby slurred.

 _Yes, she mostly asleep already._

"You need to. Let's go upstairs."

"I wanna stay 'ere," Abby flopped over as Gibbs tried to pull her up. He gently took hold of one of her shoulders and shook a little, insisting on action.

"Up, Abby."

She finally stood, wincing as she did so and reaching around to rub her backside.

"Sore?"

She shot him a glare that slid into a pout.

"Man, Gibbs, you spank hard! My butt is still throbbing."

"That way than you'll really learn your lesson," he countered, putting his arm around her shoulder and leading the pouting young lady upstairs to the kitchen. He paused to grab and ice pack which he handed to her before continuing to lead her up to the guest room. Normally he would have just sent her up and checked over his boat to ensure that the stain was not going to ruin all of his hard work, but with her sleepiness he expected that she would have stumbled on the first stair and fallen asleep on the second without help.

"I did learn," she mumbled back.

"Good. Then we won't have to repeat it."

"No, sir!"

"Abs, don't call me sir."

"Yes, ma'am! Oh!"

Gibbs just shook her head and scooped his now-tripping girl up into his arms. She might be tall but she was not heavy. He carried her into the room and set her onto the bed. She immediately turned onto her tummy, setting the ice pack on her sore bit of anatomy. Gibbs smiled and settled a blanket over her before giving a soft kiss on her temple.

"Night, Abby."

"Night, Daddy."

 _Daddy._

It may have been on purpose, or it may have simply been a reflex from memories of her childhood. It could have been both. It did not matter. Gibbs stood still for a moment, reveling in the name. Because no matter what his kids normally called him, that was his name at heart. _Daddy._

"I love you, my girl."

"'ove 'ou too."

Gibbs smiled. He stepped back out of the door, then remembered something.

"Sleep well, Abby. Tomorrow morning - _early_ morning - you'll be coming with me to the gas station to buy some new coffee."

The gentle breathing of someone deep in restful, much-needed sleep was his only response.

...

 **Please review and let me know what you want to happen next! Christmas is coming - I just have to get in some more action first. And if it takes 11 chapters to get through one afternoon and evening, this might get longer than I had ever expected it to be!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here we are again - several hours since the last chapter! Sunday morning is here - just barely!**

...

"Abby. Abby!" Gibbs whispered, shaking her shoulder gently. "Wake up."

"Mmmh," Abby groaned, rolling to her other side.

"Abby, wake up." Gibbs looked at the alarm clock next to the bed. The numbers glowed red in the darkness - 4:13 A.M. It was not the earliest Gibbs had woken - he used to get up at 4:00 on a regular basis. However, he was fairly certain that night owl Abby had never shared that habit. Still no response from her.

"Abigail! Get up before I take you over my knee again," he threatened loudly, joking but hoping that the false threat would wake her up.

"Okay, okay," she mumbled grumpily, sleepily blinking at him. "What time is it?"

"Nearly quarter past four. Come on. Time to go to work."

"Wait? This is Sunday and - _what time did you say_?!"

"Got a call, Abs. I need you to come in with me. You'll need to run evidence for us."

"I'll come later," she mumbled.

"No, you won't. You don't have your car here."

"I'll get a taxi" - mumbled into the pillow.

"Young lady, get out of bed now, or I will make good on my threat," Gibbs ordered sternly, quickly losing patience. Time was of the essence in these situations and he was used to having his team jump when he spoke.

"Hmph!" Abby grunted, pulling her blanket over her head.

SWAT!

"Ouch!" Abby bounced up and glared at Gibbs in the dim room.

"C'mon."

Abby grumpily swung her legs off the bed and stood, still frowning.

"I'm up," she snapped.

Gibbs placed a hand on each shoulder and looked at her.

"Change the attitude."

Abby shifted and dropped her head. She seemed to be remembering yesterday and her scowl melted away, seemingly for self-preservation.

"Understood?"

"Yes, si ... Gibbs."

"Good. Now you owe me a coffee. Let's go to the corner store before heading to work."

"I'm still in my clothes from yesterday," Abby protested.

"You have a set here, doncha?"

"Yes."

"Then get changed and we're leaving. Five minutes, got it?"

"Yes, sir."

...

Abby was in the car within the time specified, still tired and not wearing any make-up - but awake and respectful.

"Caf-Pow?"

"Yes, please!"

Gibbs got out at the corner store and left Abby to watch the running car. He soon returned, bringing back a container of coffee grounds and two cups - one of Caf-Pow! and one of strong black coffee.

"Oh, I should have paid for those," Abby mumbled, sleepily taking a sip of her drink, the straw rattling the ice cubes.

"Have you already learned your lesson to not do it again?"

"OH, yes!"

"Then just leave it. I can afford coffee."

...

Ziva rubbed her eyes and resisted collapsing onto her desk. She wanted to be as close to alert as possible when Gibbs came bursting into the bullpen. When he did she was the first to her feet, eager to please the strict leader.

"Are we going to a scene?" she asked. Gibbs ignored her and went straight to his desk. Ziva turned and saw Abby wandering over to Tim's desk. McGee put his arm around her waist and she let him take a sip of her caffeinated drink. Tony walked over and told her a joke. Abby's face lit up with joy, but Ziva bit her lip, once again feeling on the outside of the team. Abby drank more of her Caf-Pow!, Tony teased McGee, Gibbs was grabbing his phone to confirm some necessary detail before dragging his team out into the early dawn of the day.

Ziva slumped down into her chair, wishing that the call had never come.

...

Gibbs listened to the commander on the other end of the phone, but he was watching his kids from the corner of his eye. He noticed Tim's quick glances between Abby and Gibbs, finally relaxing when McGee realized that Abby was okay and Gibbs' anger was gone. Gibbs was amused and proud of the agent's concern. Tony was oblivious of the previous day's drama and he was taking advantage of the quiet moment to entertain his co-workers. Those three were fine. It was Ziva that bothered him.

Gibbs had not missed Ziva's desire to be first to react. His ignoring of her was not meant to be personal - he rarely honoured social graces. He watched her now, the tiny tell-tale flickers of emotions on her face that she was unaware were revealing her true feelings - the most prevalent one being that she was alone, on the outside of the family. Abby's actions of the previous day were deliberately unkind and exclusive - today, the actions of the whole team were unintentionally reaffirming those themes.

 _This would be a good time to start reaching out to Ziva, Abigail._

"Ziva."

 _Well, at least Tony's noticed._

Tony drifted over to Ziva's desk and talked to her as Gibbs finished his phone call. As he hung up he felt mildly disappointed that Abby still had not made any effort to reach out to the Mossad officer, but that would have to wait until later.

For now they had a crime scene to reach.

...

Abby was glad to scramble downstairs to her lab. Being around the team had been nice but she had also felt acutely embarrassed, knowing that Ziva had seen all of her childish actions - excepting the "pranks" - yesterday. Tim obviously knew as well, including the fact that she had been caught, but that did not bother her so much. He would have figured out how she would have been disciplined, but she did not feel too bothered by that fact. Tim would respect her privacy. Tony would too, after teasing her privately, if he knew - she hoped that he would not find out. Only Ziva would be unaware of the discipline - but Ziva, intimidating Ziva, was also the one who was owed the apology.

 _How am I going to apologize to Ziva? She's going to laugh and maybe kill me! No, probably not kill me - Gibbs would stop her - but she'll be annoyed 'cuz I was so mean. I really don't want to apologize. Maybe - maybe Gibbs won't ask and I can just act nice to Ziva and everything will be better. Yes, I'll just do that._

Abby climbed onto one of the stools in front of her computer, fully caffeinated and eager to start for the day. With a slight yelp she jumped up. The hard stool did nothing to ease the residual sting in her posterior. She chose to stand as she worked.

...

"Hey, Abs," Gibbs greeted, passing her as she stood in front of the vending machine, trying to decide which chocolate bar she wanted most.

"Hey," she waved cheerily. Her smile faded nervously as Gibbs came over and whispered in her ear.

"You talked to Ziva yet?"

"Uh, I said good morning to her before you disappeared with everyone."

"Not what I meant, Abs. Have you?"

"No."

Gibbs took the dollar from her hand.

"Hey! That's mine. I want it back!"

Gibbs glared.

"Apologize and you will."

Abby frowned and reached in her pocket and pulled out another dollar. "I'll do it later." Gibbs reached for her dollar and she tried to yank it away, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Get back to the office, find Ziva, and apologize now or I will make good on my promise from last night," Gibbs said in a steely calm voice. Abby gulped.

"Which promise?"

"That if you acted out again like you have been lately that I would deal with it immediately. There are lots of empty rooms in this building. Do you need me to refresh your memory on what happens when you act like this?"

Abby's eyes grew comically wide and she stuffed the money back into her pocket.

"No! I'll go find Ziva, I promise!"

"Then scoot."

Abby did, pausing for a moment to look over her shoulder at him and frown. He frowned back. His experience over-rode her indignation and she left to find Ziva. Gibbs looked down at the dollar, then put it in the machine and purchased a chocolate bar. He would take it down to the lab to smooth over the ruffled emotions after she humbled herself and apologized.

 _I just hope that she does. I do not want to have to go through on those threats._

 _..._

"Uh, Ziva?"

Ziva popped out from behind the file shielding her from the others.

 _What is Abby doing here? And why is she acting so nervous? This is definitely not like the Abby from yesterday!  
_

"Um ..." Abby paused and looked around. Tony and Tim were both absorbed in their own work and were ignoring the girls. This seemed to give Abby a boost to say what she came to say.

 _And what would that be? Another insult about my knives?_

"Uh, um..."

"Stick it out," Ziva suggested.

"You mean 'spit it out'?"

"Yes."

"I ... I'm sorry."

 _That was not what I was expecting._

Now that Abby had started, she was able to keep going.

"I'm sorry for being so mean to you. I was rude and unkind and selfish and mean and nasty to you and that was wrong. I'm sorry."

 _What?! She ... she ... Abby apologized - to ME?!_

"I ... thanks," Ziva said, still in shock.

 _I never expected that - from Abby of all people!_

Abby chewed on her lip and wrung her hands before blurting out, "Do you forgive me?"

 _Forgive?_

"I guess, yes?" Forgiveness was not something that had been practiced in the David family. Revenge and violence had been much more encouraged.

"Thank you!"

Abby threw herself at Ziva and dragged the Israeli into a tight hug before Ziva could react. She eventually relaxed a little, even returning the embrace a little.

 _I never expected this earlier this morning!_

Abby pulled back and smiled before scampering over and claiming Gibbs' spinning office chair in the leader's absence, leaving a stunned Ziva behind. Ziva continued to watch the Goth, who seemed to wince as she sat down.

...

 _I hope that you listened, Abby._

Gibbs entered the bullpen and looked around for the scientist, but he could not spot her.

 _I promise you, Abigail, if you did not listen you will be one sore and sorry little girl when I find you!_

"Gibbs!" The cheerful call from his desk revealed the location of the girl in question - and the smile on her face and shock on Ziva's confirmed that the apology had been offered and accepted. "Where's my missing dollar?"

"In the lab."

Abby got up and walked over, slightly more stiffly than normal. He whispered, "You did it?" She nodded. "Okay. Good girl." She beamed at the praise. "Now, off to your evidence. I'll be down in a bit."

"Okidoki!"

And off she went, leaving behind a proud Gibbs - and a thoroughly confused Ziva!

...

 **Thanks to BohoAngel, KrisShannon, Guest, Hippiechic81, and DS2010. Your comments are so nice and I love hearing from you! Hope that you enjoyed. Anyone else reading? I think so - we've got readers from around the whole world and thousands of views so far this month. Come on, guys! You can comment - I believe in you! :P :D  
**

 **I'll probably update on Thursday or Friday. Check back soon!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks for the reviews, Hippiechic81 and DS2010. I know that this chapter is earlier than I had planned, but I doubt that anyone will be upset by that. Enjoy!**

 **Thanks to all of the readers. On Wednesday I received over 1,000 views on my stories on this site. Thank you so much, everyone! I just posted a new Criminal Minds short story "Poet - And We Didn't Know It!", so if you like that show, make sure to check it out!**

 **Now, let's get back to our favourite NCIS family!**

 **...**

Gibbs disappeared in search of more coffee, having been distracted from that earlier goal by confronting Abby. While he did that, Ziva remained seated at her desk, in awe of Abby's apology.

"Ziva? You okay?" McGee asked.

"Yeah, what's up with you?" Tony prodded. Ziva turned to them with a perplexed look on her face.

"Abby just apologized."

"For?" Tony coaxed.

"Being mean to me." Ziva waved her arms around, expressing her surprise.

"Well, that's good." Tony shrugged it off. He and Abby had argued and apologized plenty over the years that they had worked together. Tim did not seem surprised either. Unknown to Ziva, he knew exactly what would have led to Abby's change in attitude.

"Maybe you two can finally be friends," Tim suggested. Ziva cocked her head to the side and studied him carefully.

"Perhaps," she stated carefully, cautiously. She thought of something else. "Do you think that Abby is okay this morning?"

"Why?" Tony asked.

"She seemed ... I do not know. She walked differently, almost stiffly. And when she sat down she seemed to be hurting. She was not like that last night when she was so rude to Gibbs and I when we had supper with her last night."

"O...oooh," Tony said, turning to look at Tim. "That's ... quite the observation."

"Why?" Ziva asked, completely innocent.

"Uh, she'll be fine," Tim assured Ziva. "She'll probably be feeling great by tomorrow."

"But did she get hurt? Do you know?"

Tony coughed. "You said that she apologized?"

"Yes. But how does that matter with this?"

"Then she's perfectly fine."

"Probably more than perfect," Tim added.

Tony nodded. "She'll be great. I'm sure that she's great right now."

"Oh, yes," Tim affirmed.

Ziva looked at the two of them suspiciously. "You are both strange. Maybe I should ask Abby if she is okay myself."

"Um, not a good idea," Tim rushed to say.

"Why not? She was being nice to me this morning. Why should I not be nice back?"

"Let us take care of it," Tony said. "If she's ... in pain, we've seen her like that before. She won't be as embarrassed to have us check in on her. You're a little newer and she might feel more ... sensitive if she ... uh, thinks that you think that she is weak."

"She is weak compared to everyone that I know from Mossad."

"See? That would likely make her upset. Just let Probie and I check on her, okay? In fact, McGee, let's go check on her now. Come on."

And with that Tony dragged McGee off to the elevator. Once again, for the second time within five minutes, Ziva was left behind. Once again, she was confused.

...

"So, Abby earned herself some attention from the Boss?" Tony asked McGee in the privacy of the elevator. McGee nodded.

"Yeah. She came by yesterday. She told me about having an attitude with him all day. As her final word, she had locked Gibbs out of his house and came to me for help."

"She WHAT? Oh, that's rich!" Tony chortled. "Wish I had been there when he arrived."

"Well, I was - and it was not funny!"

Tony's smile faded. "Did she get it bad?"

"Gibbs sent me home, so I don't really know. She was terrified because she had been acting out all day - and you know how mean she's been to Ziva over the last few weeks."

"Boss wouldn't be too happy about that," Tony noted.

"But Boss and Abby came in together this morning and she wasn't throwing a tantrum or crying, so I think that they figured things out. And if she apologized to Ziva, maybe things will have worked themselves out."

Tony considered the information. "Well, we can check on her and make sure of it before heading back upstairs."

...

Ziva had dropped her file onto her desk and was very busy considering the last ten minutes. Something was off in the bullpen and she did not know what it was.

 _Abby acts strange, Gibbs praises her, I mention that she acted funny, Tim and Tony act conquered ... I mean, concerned. Then everybody disappears, leaving me behind! Hmph!_

 _I think something is wrong with Abby. Maybe ... maybe I should go check on her myself. I am not her friend, but maybe she would tell me if she is hurt. I wouldn't, but she does not seem to want to be tough._

 _Yes. Gibbs is still not back. I will go find Abby and check if she is okay myself._

And with that Ziva was off to find Abby, racing down the long stairway.

...

Gibbs returned to the bullpen. Not a single agent was in view.

McGee?

 _Off to check on Abby._

Tony?

 _Likely off to check on Abby with McGee._

Ziva?

 _Where is that girl? Oh - I hope she is not off to check on Abby with the guys._

 _But ..._

 _Tony and McGee would have stopped her. McGee would have figured out Abby's discipline and want to respect her._

 _But Ziva? Could the guys stop her._

 _Probably not._

 _Yes, she is probably down with the rest of them._

Gibbs took a seat and took several long swigs of his coffee. He had a premonition that he would need the caffeine sustenance in the near future.

...

Abby lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw Tony and McGee at the door of the lab. She had been bored much of the day. The tests running took a long time and there was little that she could do but wait for results.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hey, Abby."

Tony looked her over critically for a moment until she demanded "What?"

"Just checking that you're okay."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Tony smirked. "Ziva said that you were walking a little funny and didn't seem to want to sit down. Something big brother should know?"

Abby blushed a little. "Oh, that."

"Which that?"

Abby looked pleadingly at McGee. "Tim!" He shrugged.

"Sorry. Tony figured it out on his own. So, how are you really doing today?"

Abby grimaced, but she was smiling. "Sore, like always when 'Dad' decides to make me behave."

"Sounds like you brought it on yourself. Really, locking him out of his own house?" Tony's voice was a mixture of disbelief and admiration.

"I _thought_ it would be fun," Abby admitted ruefully. "It wasn't." McGee winced. He had been involved in former events that Abby had thought would be "fun" but ended up as disasters. Several of them had involved Gibbs, and the agent's anger had not been a pleasant experience.

"Was he tough on you?" Tony enquired, always curious.

"Felt like it. He used the paddle forever! I hate that thing!"

The two brothers sat with Abby and commiserated on her misfortune, despite it having been of her own creation. After a couple minutes Abby started looking around. With all the rustling and rattling, no one heard the soft footsteps outside of the lab.

"Where's my dollar?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, here it is. Gibbs got me a chocolate bar."

"Hey, why's he getting you candy?" Tony demanded. "He doesn't get us any!"

"He got it with _my_ dollar!" Abby defended, ripping off the wrapper and breaking it into pieces to share with her friends. "I was trying to buy chocolate and he took the money from me and said that I needed to go apologize to Ziva for being mean or I couldn't have it back."

No one saw Ziva, crouching out of sight beside the open lab door, press her lips tightly together and march quietly, determinedly back to the bullpen.

"So he was bribing you?" McGee asked, surprised.

"No," Abby explained around a mouthful of her treat. "Threatened, maybe. He basically said that I'd better apologize and fix it or he would take me aside and discipline me here at work!"

"Ouch!"

"I know! I already felt bad. I just didn't want to apologize, you know? Ziva is so … intimidating." Abby dropped her eyes as she chewed. "I was … am embarrassed that I treated her so badly."

"You sure didn't seem to think that last week," Tony noted.

"No, but there's a lot of things that being over Gibbs' knee can help you realize," Abby snapped, annoyed that Tony could not keep up. "Haven't you ever realized after being punished for something that you really are sorry - not just sore, but really sorry for your actions?"

"Yeah," Tony admitted.

Abby smiled. "So, that's how it was."

"So why hadn't you already apologized? Why wait until Gibbs forced you?" McGee pressed.

"McGee, have you met Abby before?" Tony demanded.

Abby scowled. "Hey!"

"Calm down," Tony teased while simultaneously tugging one of her pig tails, earning him another scowl and an attempted swipe and the chocolate remaining in his hand.

"So, Abby, what's the answer?" McGee tried to divert her attention before a fight broke out between the baby and eldest in the family. Abby refocused.

"Like I said, I didn't want to. I thought maybe if I just was nice and Gibbs didn't ask, I could get away without having to apologize - but now that I think of it, when does that ever work? If he hadn't made me, I probably would have said sorry by tonight anyway." She grabbed her nearby Caf-Pow! and sucked on the straw before continuing, "I was getting too guilty and I hate being guilty! But he definitely adds a lot more incentive to getting it over with fast. Satisfied?"

"You promise it's the truth?" McGee demanded.

"I'd swear on a stack of Caf-Pows!"

Tony and McGee laughed at the solemn promise.

"Then that's good enough for us. Stay out of trouble, Abby."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!"

...

 **Please remember to leave a review! Just so that readers know, you don't even have to have an account to review. You can be a guest (and if you put some nickname at the bottom of your review I will reply to you by name in the next chapter. ;D ). Also, you don't need to be a write to have an account, so look into getting one. They are great for reading and saving favourite stories!**

 **So, what does everyone think? Anyone catch onto Ziva's role in the last part? What do you think will happen now? Looking forward to hearing from you!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Yay! Lots of reviews! I'm going to respond really quickly:**

 _ **AmyV24 - good question! You'll see in this chapter!**_

 _ **spacekitten2700 - :D I wasn't either!**_

 _ **DS2010 - Thanks for your comments!**_

 _ **BohoAngel - I loved the "not inclined to think 'positive' thoughts first" phrase in your review. Definitely inspired a couple of lines near the end!**_

 _ **Guest/LT - that won't be happening in this story, but there will be other points of interest! I told another reviewer this (I think), but I don't think that Gibbs could spank Ziva at this point. I really don't feel like there is that trust in that relationship yet. Likely will happen in another story in the future, just not now, not yet. :) Hope that you understand!**_

 _ **Happy Reader - love the name! Thanks for the reviews - loved them!**_

 **Everyone, just wanted to dedicate this chapter to DS2010 - their comment about Abby being "forced" to apologize got me thinking; it was not how I meant it when I wrote the chapter, but their interpretation made me think "if Ziva heard about it, what would she think?" That inspired the last chapter and this one. :) So, at the risk of sounding like some sort of commercial - "Your reviews, making a difference in the real world of storytelling!" - well, basically, that's what I meant to say! Make sure to comment, because this story is one of the few that I have written spur of the moment. Usually I have a story outline - this one does not have one. (So out of character, yet fun too!) So, if you want to help influence this story, please review! You never know - you might end up inspiring the next chapter!  
**

 **Ha ha! I sound ridiculous! Anyway, enjoy!**

 **...**

There was little warning for Gibbs to prepare himself for the fury that was Ziva. There was a _swoosh_ \- and there she was, glaring at him with eyes flaming with anger.

"Ziva," he acknowledged nonchalantly. It did nothing to calm her. She was practically bristling with irritation.

"Here," she spat, slamming a dollar down on his desk.

"Excuse me?" he demanded, thoroughly confused but starting to get annoyed by Ziva's obvious attitude.

"There's your dollar back. I wouldn't want you to get _broken_ paying for apologies. I can afford my own bribes." Her anger had escalated until she was shouting.

"Officer David, stop yelling and explain - NOW." Gibbs was starting to shout too, his patience depleted.

"Why should I stop?" Ziva returned If anyone else had been in the bullpen they would have been cowering from the negative energy generated by the two involved in the standoff, but thankfully no one else was there. Unfortunately that also meant that there was no incentive to control their tempers.

"Because I told you!" Gibbs bellowed.

 _What has gotten into that girl? If she doesn't stop right away she is going to regret it!_

"Just like you 'told' Abby to apologize?" Ziva gave the jab triumphantly. That confused Gibbs to the point that he stopped yelling.

"What do you mean?"

Ziva stalked over to her desk and grabbed a folder, stuffing papers inside, before returning to glare at Gibbs. "You _bribed_ her to apologize to me, _Agent_ Gibbs?" She let out a bitter laugh at the shocked expression, so rare to see on Gibbs' face. "You didn't think that I would find out, did you? Obviously, I'm not worth a _real_ apology." The caustic words were spewing out so fast that Gibbs could not even think of how to stop the outburst - so he watched her, just letting her explode. She was not breaking anyone's neck, so it was okay. Once she calmed down - then that would be a different story.

Ziva spun on her heel and stalked away. That elicited a reaction.

"Ziva! Where do you think you are going? You need to explain."

"To get my work done ... away from those who resort to bribery!" Ziva snapped over her shoulder before disappearing into the stairwell.

 _This is not good. And bribery?_

Gibbs stood and began to stalk after Ziva. Miss David owed him an explanation. And if this kept up he was going to be explaining some things to her as well.

...

 _This is not good. I just walked out on my boss._

Ziva nearly stopped and turned around at horrible realization, but her temper demanded that she keep going. It was just too ... too ... _cruel_ , really, making her think that Abby was finally accepting her, just to learn that she was not after all. All of those agents, plotting and planning how to favour Abby while tricking Ziva into a false sense of security.

She heard quick footsteps behind her.

 _Oh, great. Gibbs is coming to kill me - or hit my head off. I'd better do my "ninja" moves, as Tony calls them, and hide._

Ziva jumped over the side of the staircase and landed on the next landing, then slipped out of the door. She ran quietly down the hall, ignoring the questioning looks of workers. She eventually found a maintenance closet and stepped inside. It was just in time too - within a minute she heard Gibbs pass, asking a passing lady if she had seen "an angry Israeli officer running down these halls?" Ziva held her breath until she heard the woman answer the negative before clicking away on high heels. She heard Gibbs mutter under his breath for awhile, before he turned and walked away with the declaration that "I need coffee if I'm going to deal with this drama." She stifled her snort of derision.

 _As if I am dramatic! _

She settled down, propping her folder against a shelf and pulled a pen flashlight from her pocket. She began to study the papers. Just then the door was pulled open and a grumpy old man was scowling at her.

"W'atcha doin' in MY cl'set?" he demanded.

"Working," Ziva matched his tone. He grabbed her shoulder and roughly pulled her out of the hiding spot, shoving her papers onto the floor where they scattered.

"Not here, you ain't!" he announced, pushing past to grab some cleaning supplies and shove them into a cleaning bucket.

 _Would it be considered self-defense if I strangled him now?_

"Wait, yer the one that belongs to Agent Gibbs, huh?"

"Uh..."

"Gibbs!" the man hollered. "Git over here. I found yer kid."

 _I do think that it would be self-defense. Too bad Gibbs is around here somewhere, because then I'd have to do it on him too, and that could get me deported._

Ziva scooped up her papers and shot the custodian a glare before rushing away.

"Hey, git yer hide back here! Ya knocked over my cleaners!" the custodian yelled again, but Ziva was gone.

...

"You wanted to see me, Gibbs?" Abby asked, entering the bullpen. She was not _quite_ her normal bouncy self, still in self-preservation mode. When Gibbs was in the mood to dish out spankings he might just keep going. Not that he normally did, but someday he just _might_. It was better to be extra well-behaved to stay on his good side.

"Yep." Gibb walked over and got in her space, looking her straight in the eyes. Abby shifted nervously.

 _There's nothing that I did in the last half hour that would get him upset - is there?_

"Did you tell Ziva that I bribed you to apologize to her?"

"No!" Abby looked at him as if he was crazy. "Why would I do that?"

"Because she just stormed out of here fifteen minutes ago shouting that I did just that. Now, as I don't remember bribing you, I am interested in knowing where she got that idea - because she seemed very certain."

"Trust me, it wasn't me!" Abby spluttered.

"Well, what did you say to her when she went down to your lab?" Gibbs demanded.

Abby looked thoroughly confused at that. "She was never down."

"Abby." The warning tone demanded the truth, but Abby was upset.

"Honest, Gibbs! She never came down - not once today!"

Gibbs looked at her steadily for half a minute, then nodded curtly. "Then any idea on where she would have gotten that idea?"

"Why? What did she say?" Curiosity overrode sadness at being questioned.

"She came in here, slammed a dollar down on my desk, and shouted that she could pay her own bribes for apologizes from you."

Abby scowled thoughtfully, then spun around to Tony and McGee. "Did you guys say anything? 'Cause I explained it to you that I wasn't bribed."

"No, I haven't talked to Ziva since earlier before we guys went down to check on you," Tony testified. But McGee was not so quick to answer.

"Tim?" Abby pushed.

"McGee, you know anything about this?" Gibbs ordered.

"Uh, maybe. I don't _know_ anything, but I have a hypothesis."

"What?" all three demanded.

"Maybe ... she was wondering if Abby was okay and offered to check on her." Abby, embarrassed, glanced up at Gibbs who was waiting for McGee to continue. "Tony and I knew that might bother Abby more, so, since we understood the situation better, we offered to go. But, Ziva being Ziva..."

"She probably went down anyway," Gibbs ended.

 _Of course she would. When does she ever stay behind? I don't think it is a concept that she even comprehends ... yet._

"But we didn't see her," Abby provided.

"No, but we wouldn't need to. She could have been just outside, listening in. And when you were telling us about Gibbs getting a chocolate bar for you with your dollar, that you were only allowed to have after apologizing ... well, Tony and I asked if he bribed you."

"But he _didn't_! Did you, Gibbs?"Abby turned to Gibbs for validation. "And anyway, I explained that he hadn't. In fact, he threatened me with more punishment if I didn't behave!"

"Yeah, but Probie's right," Tony added. "If Ziva only heard a part of that conversation, she could have gotten some wrong ideas - and knowing how she reacts to things ..."

"She's thinking the worst," Gibbs sighed.

 _Great. So now the assassin thinks that I was trying to trick her - after finally thinking that I was building up trust with her yesterday. Wasted. Now she's mad and missing. Great, Ziva, just great.  
_

"But why didn't you just call her and hear here side, Boss?" Tony asked the obvious question. Gibbs wearily ran his hand over his face.

"I tried. She's not answering."

...

 **Uh oh! What do you think of this chapter? Any thoughts on what will occur next? Please remember to review!**

 **I hope to post chapter fifteen tomorrow, with it being the weekend.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Oh, I had hoped to have this out way earlier today, but it took longer than normal to write. Good news - one of the distractions was that I got the first three seasons of NCIS from my local library, so I should be getting lots of inspiration while watching (which I am doing in prep for two psychology analysis papers that I will have to write in the future). Anyway, I got what I wanted in this chapter - looking forward to the next chapter already, so that is awesome! I love the cliffhanger (which I hope that I'm not spoiling by blabbering away here!).**

 **Anyway, thanks to DS2010, fiftyshadeswritergal,, KrisShannon, BohoAngel, Hippiechic81, Smec, and wonderful Guest who identified themself, LT. You all left great reviews that were encouraging. Virtual hugs to you all! And to that Guest out there who decided that leaving a negative comment was how they wanted to waste their time, thanks for the laugh. Yes, laugh. The idea that you read fourteen chapters just to mention that you don't like the story and "thumbs down" - goodness! What a waste of time, buddy/lady/whoever you are! If you continue to read anyway, please know that your comments aren't going to change the way that I write. I hope that you aren't the Guest that posted a negative comment earlier in this story, because at that point I thought that I had made it sufficiently clear to you that flaming is a stupid use of time. Feel free to click back at anytime, people. I'm not Ziva - I don't have ninja moves that will threaten you into reading the next chapter! ;) If people have ideas for improving my story or notice errors, I don't mind being alerted. But if you choose to simply bash my writing because of my style (which is a very personal part of every writer), not my mistakes, then you need to stop. I understand that not everyone will enjoy how I portray the characters - goodness, half of fanfiction writers seem to enjoy portraying the characters differently than on the original shows - that's the beauty of this genre! So, if you don't like it, _please_ do yourself (and the community here) a favour and write a better one! I hope that I am not coming off as arrogant or broken, because I am neither. I'm just a little annoyed that people decide to treat authors - who do this for free in their spare time! - like dirt.  
**

 **For those who are still interested, let's continue, because _I_ am interested in what will happen next? Anyone with me?**

 **KrisShannon, thanks for the comment with the phrase "Now our little Mossad misfit is fuming" - as eveyone will be able to see, it inspired some of Gibbs' thoughts in this chapter! As Ducky would say, enjoy, my dear!  
**

 **...**

"Is she suicidal?!" Tony exclaimed. "'Never be unreachable' is one of the top rules!"

Gibbs had marched away with a grim expression on his face once he confirmed that Abby was not responsible, leaving the three "kids" to discuss the astonishing news - now Ziva was going head-to-head with Gibbs. Apparently the girls were driving Gibbs crazy this weekend.

Abby was shifting uncomfortably again. "Do you guys think that ... well, _maybe_ ..."

"Maybe what?" McGee asked.

"Maybe it _was_ my fault?"

"Well, aside from your problems with her yesterday and not apologizing on your own and not being faster at explaining to Tim and I ... well, there really isn't a whole lot else that was your fault," Tony joked. But Abby had not been joking and her whole face clouded.

"I don't want her to get in trouble," Abby blurted out.

"It wouldn't be your fault," McGee tried to console her but she interrupted.

" _I_ was the one who got Gibbs in such a bad mood. Now he won't have any patience left and he'll get really mad at Ziva for breaking the rules and send her back to Israel!" Abby fretted.

"I don't think that Gibbs will send her back because of that," McGee reasoned but Abby was already waving her hands.

"Come on, guys! We have to go find her before Gibbs does!"

"Why? Like, McGee and I don't want her head smacked off her body because we work with her each day and she can't do as good of a job without a brain," Tony noted, "but _you_? You've been complaining about her. I wouldn't think that you be so worried ..."

"HURRY!"

...

Gibbs stalked back and forth in the building, searching for his liason. He had gone down to the parking lot to check and her car was still there. He doubted that she had left in a cab. That meant that his dear little Mossad misfit was fuming somewhere in the building - somewhere that he could find her and give her the what-for about her outburst and disappearing act - not to mention being unreachable.

Abby might be emotionally explosive after losing Kate - but perhaps she was not the only one who was suffering.

At least anyone besides Gibbs would have admitted it.

Perhaps.

But that was not the issue right now. Finding Ziva was.

...

Ziva sat in the back stairwell and straightened her papers. She pulled out a pen and began to mark any items that seemed critical to the case, puzzling over them. The act of focusing allowed the tension to drain from her body. She eventually forgot that she was in the stairwell because she was angry and enjoyed the silence as she studied the information in the file on her lap.

Nearly an hour later she was still propped against the wall and scribbling away furiously. "This could be inseminating," she said aloud as she underlined one statement.

"Incriminating," a voice corrected. Ziva jerked around to see ...

 _Abby._

Ziva turned back away, not really caring to see the forensic scientist at the moment.

 _Humph! They think that they can buy my forgiveness with chocolate - without even giving the candy to me! That is just insulting!_

Abby sighed as she sat down on the step beneath Ziva. She looked up, searching Ziva's face.

"So, Gibbs hasn't found you yet. Good - I was hoping that McGee or Tony or I would find you first, but especially me."

 _What does she want to do to me now? Burn me with chemicals as well as her words? But wait - what was that about Gibbs?_

"Why would Gibbs be looking for me?"

Abby rolled her eyes. "Uh, you've been ignoring his calls!"

"No, I haven't," Ziva said flatly.

"Yes, you have!" Abby refuted. "He said so."

"Must be part of another plan," Ziva spit out. "Just go away, Abby."

"No! I'm staying!" Abby insisted. "Plus, Gibbs is going to have your head if you don't answer his calls."

"Haven't got any."

"Then why ... oh, I get it," Abby announced, her eyes lighting up. "This stairwell has horrible cell phone reception."

Ziva reluctantly pulled out her phone and checked. Sure enough, no reception.

"Great, so now I have a legitimate reason to give to Gibbs. He'll be satisfied. Now, leave please. I came here to get quiet so I could work on this away from ... from ..."

"Bribers?" Abby asked sadly.

"Yes. Wait ... how did you know that I knew?"

"Gibbs asked me if I told you that he bribed me," Abby explained. "I said no, but Tim figured out that you must have been listening in." Ziva kept her face impassive. She would admit to nothing. Abby continued. "I don't know all that you heard, Ziva, but I don't think that you got the whole story."

"And what is the whole story?"

Abby took a deep breath and began. "Well, yesterday when I was so nasty to you Gibbs got really upset at me and that made me even more upset so I went to his house and put salt in his coffee and put silly string on his boat and locked him out of his house and then McGee made me go back..."

"What does this have to do with bribery?" Ziva interjected.

"Don't interrupt! You still haven't heard most of it," Abby admonished. Ziva growled in her throat from frustration but Abby was diving back into her story with a dramatic relish.

"So McGee dragged me back and made me face Gibbs who was furious and ..."

"And?" Ziva was curious about that. She had never seen Gibbs get annoyed to the point of action with Abby.

"And he ... disciplined me," Abby admitted.

"How?" Ziva probed curiously.

"Oh, that ..." Abby realized that Ziva did not know about how Gibbs dealt with the most serious, or childish, of infractions - and Abby was not about to explain it. "Uh ... that doesn't really matter at the moment. What really matters is that this morning he told me to apologize to you."

"You mean bribed you!"

"No, he didn't bribe me," Abby huffed while rolling her eyes. "In fact, he just told me the first time - but then you guys were out and then..."

"Then what? If you won't tell me the whole story, just leave and let me work in peace!" Ziva snapped, he posture tense.

Abby looked like she was going to snap back, but decided against it. Her temper had already cost her enough over the last few days. She might as well keep her life. "I should have apologized right away this morning, Ziva - I know I should have, and I'm sorry that I didn't."

Ziva's posture became a little less rigid and she tilted her head toward Abby to listen. Abby was heartened by this reaction and continued.

"I was embarrassed and thought that maybe I could get away without apologizing which - I know, I know! - it was selfish and unkind but I don't like apologizing and after being so mean to you I didn't want to have to face you because I was embarrassed and I know that's not a good reason but it is the only one that I have. I was stupid and too embarrassed to own up to it. And Gibbs, being Gibbs, figured that out. He confronted me when I was trying to buy candy from the vending machine and stopped me while I was trying to decide which chocolate bar I wanted - because there are so many good chocolate bars and - you know, that doesn't matter either, does it? Anyway, he took the dollar away and told me that I'd better get down to the bullpen and apologize to you before he punished me again for disobeying him by not apologizing when I was supposed to. After I apologized he checked if I did, then he told me that he had got me a chocolate bar with my dollar and that he put it in my lab. He wasn't bribing me. And, even though I can understand if you don't believe me or forgive me, that's the truth."

"Oh." After that long winded and confusing explanation there was not much else that Ziva could say. Listening rather than reacting was not her normal choice, but she did have to admit that Abby's explanation made sense and the other girl seemed sincere.

"Will you forgive me?" Abby asked contritely.

"I already did, earlier."

Abby cocked her head. "But then you got mad at me again and now you know the whole true story and know what a coward I was, not wanting to apologize and all, and I wouldn't blame you if you didn't forgive me anymore."

"I don't know much about forgiveness," Ziva admitted.

 _Wait, where did that come from? Here I am, in a old stairwell without phone reception, with a gothic crazy scientist who could talk my ear off, about to dive into how I was taught to shoot first, ask questions later; never forgive, just get revenge. This is crazy. What is that strange place that Tony mentioned the other day? Iz? Az? I remember - it was a state. Colorado? No, Kansas! Oh, if only Tony was around. I'm in Kansas now! But I want out!_

"Didn't your parents ever teach you about it?" Abby asked, inadvertently stepping into Ziva's emotional mine field.

 _Think. Abort topic. Abort topic. Change conversation._

"Um, are you okay?" Ziva asked. "You are wiggling a lot."

"Well, discipline isn't usually comfortable, at least not from Gibbs," Abby commented, then froze, realizing that she had just inadvertently let that information slip. She hazarded a look at Ziva, who was looking thoroughly confused.

 _At least she hasn't figured it out - yet. Quick, distract her._

But within seconds there was no need for Abby to think up a distraction - because one came storming down the staircase.

"Officer David. As you have not been answering your phone, let me update you - the next plane leaves for Tel Aviv in four hours. The last message I left you had it leaving in five. Now, would you care to give me a reason not to put you on it and ship you back to Mossad? And Abigail, if I shouldn't be dragging you to the interrogation room, spit out an answer! Both of you, now!"

Gibbs had officially arrived on the scene - and he was not happy!

...

 **If you feel compelled, please review! And let me teach those of you who want to be negative how to comment. First option is, say what drove you to read this chapter, then note what your issue is, then perhaps follow it with a suggestion on how to fix it or some other positive thought (one of my teachers used to call this the sandwich method of giving constructive criticism). Other option - please press the back button, create an account, and press the publish button. Experiment with the amount of time and effort it takes to write a story. Then go back to the stories that you formerly flamed and apologize to the author's that you have insulted by your careless words.**

 **To all the loyal reviewers out there, thank you for your kindness. Don't be afraid to give me constructive criticism in your feedback - some of you have done so and it has been very helpful. I appreciate it!**

 **God bless you all and have a great weekend!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Here we are. How will the confrontation end?**

 **I tried to do this chapter. It feels okay now, but I'm still unsure if it is what I fully wanted. Sorry if things seem too out of character. It was a hard one to write! I had to make Gibbs pretty upset - after all, my patience would probably be gone by this point too! Thus, Abby gets involved and it all just escalates... So, please be merciful even if this isn't great. If you have any editing suggestions, please let me know in the comments! I do read over my past chapters a lot for this story and sometimes update to remove issues. :)**

 **Thanks to all the people who have favourited and followed this story. I think there are over twenty now following - thanks so much, everyone! I'd love to hear your comments at some point - hint! hint! Also, I got a new reviewer, Psyche53. Welcome! So glad to have you here! Also, thanks to my loyal reviewers - DS2010, spacekitten2700, KrisShannon, and Hippiechic81 (by the way, if I ever put the wrong numbers on your usernames in the thanks section, please alert me so that I can change it - I try, but all of these numbers can be confusing!). I love to hear from each of you. It is like getting a piece of fudge whenever I see a new review - exciting, rewarding, and oh-so-sweet! I love to hear from all of you!  
**

 **Now, let's figure out what will happen now that Gibbs is angry at _both_ of the girls. Hey, at least Abby has company now! **

**...**

Ziva was used to being able to react immediately in stressful situations but in that moment, with Gibbs glaring down at her and Abby, something prevented her from jumping up to defend herself. It confused and unsettled her, but it was there nonetheless.

Thankfully, there was no need for Ziva to defend herself because Abby was about to do a very thorough job on that subject.

"Gibbs, you can't do that. You can't!" Abby burst out, jumping to her feet to look Gibbs in the eye. "That's just unfair!"

Gibbs tilted his head at her, immovable. "And why shouldn't I, Abby? She knows not be running off and refusing to answer her phone. They let you do that in Mossad, David?"

"No, sir," she responded on instinct, unable to formulate a response to his earlier question - _Why shouldn't I be on that flight? Because I don't want to go back - please, please don't send me back there. I can't do it again._

"Then get to interrogation, now, both of you."

Ziva started to move to obey, but Abby's voice made her freeze.

"Gibbs, you can't do that!"

The boss stepped forward until he was nearly nose-to-nose with the scientist. "And why not?"

"Because it's not Ziva's fault!"

Gibbs took a deep breath. Abby took it as a sign that he might be trying to calm down and plowed on.

"She didn't know that you were calling her. There isn't any cellphone reception here - I know 'cuz I've come here before so that I could have a good excuse to not answer your calls. Oops, wasn't supposed to say that," she muttered as she bit her lip at Gibbs' stern look at that accidental admission. "Anyway, you can't be mad at Ziva for not answering because she didn't hear her phone, even though she had it on her. And please don't get upset about her leaving the bullpen earlier because that wasn't her fault either."

Ziva felt like a bystander at her own trial. Her eyes were big as she watched the standoff between Gibbs and Abby. Abby was making a good lawyer, so Ziva decided to keep quiet.

"Stalking away mad wasn't her fault?"

"Nope," Abby stated.

"And why's that?" Gibbs was impassive.

"It's exactly what you would have done."

 _Gibbs will strangle her. He will. He will, and I'll be a witness!_

Gibbs suddenly cracked out a smile. "I would," he admitted.

 _He ... he admitted that he would have done what I did. I don't think that I have ever had a commanding officer who did that._

"See? Then you can't send her back to Israel!"

Gibbs turned to Ziva. "You didn't hear my calls?" he demanded. Ziva held out her phone. The message of "no signal" blinked across the screen and he gave her a curt nod. "You care to explain the outburst earlier?"

"It was exactly what Tim said," Abby butted into the conversation again in Ziva's defense.

Gibbs turned and looked at her with another one of his many stern glares. "Glad to see you practicing your lawyer skills, but let Ziva talk."

"But you're going to send her back to Israel! You can't do that, Gibbs, you can't!" Abby argued.

"ABBY." It was not so much the volume as the tone that sought to catch Abby's attention, but Abby was on a roll once more.

"You're being unfair, Gibbs, totally unfair!" Abby's voice rose as her anger grew. "If you want to blame anyone, blame me because it is all my fault that everyone is upset, but don't blame Ziva."

"Fine," Gibbs said. "Now, quiet!"

"But it isn't ...!"

"I'm not blaming Ziva."

 _He isn't? He isn't! But it doesn't seem to matter to Abby._

"But you did! You came here and you blamed her! That is just ..."

"Abigail, I'm warning you ..."

"No! I'm warning you!" Abby snapped. "I'll start a petition. I'll hack the airports so they won't take Ziva to Israel. I'm not going to let you send her away."

"LISTEN!"

Ziva took half a step backwards. No one was paying any attention so no one would notice what she hoped was _not_ cowardice.

"I WON'T listen!" Abby snapped back, ready to jump into the next argument. However, Gibbs was ready and he quickly took her arm and smacked Abby's bottom. Ziva's eyes widened to the point that she nearly worried that her eyes would fall out of her head. She would never have seen that coming. She had been beaten, but never given a smack like a child and it was startling to witness. She could not believe that Gibbs had just done that to Abby.

But then, she had never seen head slaps used the way that Gibbs used them either.

 _Perhaps it's American?_

"Hey! OUCH!" Abby whined but for some reason the swat seemed to have the same effect on Abby that a head slap did on Tony - she immediately calmed down enough for Gibbs to spin her around and look her in the eye. "Abigail, Ziva is not in trouble. I think this situation has had too much confusion. She's staying here - she never was leaving." He looked over at Ziva and she could see the truth in his eyes.

 _So he was just upset, like I was. He understands why I left and why I didn't answer my phone and broke his rule. He didn't really mean it. Oh, thank God! I couldn't have gone back, I couldn't have._

"We're going to talk," he told Ziva, still maintaining his hold on Abby, who was no longer struggling and who was finally listening. "Figure out what went wrong." He switched to looking at Abby. "And _we_ are going to talk. But keep up your behaviour? We'll be doing more than talking. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Abby whispered, dropping her head and looking contrite.

"Good." He started up the stairs, then ordered, "Ziva, bullpen. Let's see what you've got from those notes. Abby, lab. I'll be down to check on that search in ten."

"Yes, sir," both girls responded.

"Don't call me sir."

...

"Good insight," Gibbs praised at the end of Ziva's quick explanation. Tony and McGee had been relieved to see Gibbs and Ziva return, the two of them unscathed. Gibbs had sent them out on a final task before heading home and they had both been eager to leave. Now, in the relative privacy, he looked up from his seat behind his desk at Ziva.

"Still want to stay here?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Good, cause I wasn't going to let you leave. Next time, remember rule number eight."

"Never assume?"

"Good. You're learning." Gibbs smiled at her, a relief to see after the long day. "I'll work on it too. And now that you know that the stairs block reception, keep rule number three in mind."

"Never be unreachable. I'll keep a better eye on it, Gibbs," Ziva promised.

"Good." He stood and walked past on his way to the elevator, lightly smacking the back of her head as he did so. "You'll do better next time. Now, it's starting to get late. We'll start again in the morning. Go home and get some rest."

Then he was gone in the elevator, leaving Ziva to collect her things and return home to wonder over the events of the day.

There was a lot to think about over the evening.

The biggest was if this meant that she and Abby were now friends.

If she was the judge, she would rule that the evidence pointed toward an answer of "yes".

...

 **Now, Abby again. Again, Abby. Any ideas on how that will pan out? If you review before Wednesday I might be able to use your ideas for the next chapter if they inspire my writing of the scene!**

 **Please remember to review! Thanks!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Yay! Another chapter! I had fun writing it this morning. Different style than what I've been using for most of it. Lots of "thinking" in this chapter. :D**

 **Thanks to all of the reviewers - BohoAngel, Psyche53, Hippiechic81, DS2010, fiftyshadeswritergirl, and KrisShannon.**

 **...**

Abby sat in her lab, arms folded and a scowl on her face. Gibbs had sent her here while he went upstairs to talk to Ziva - a talk that Abby could not moderate like she had in the stairwell. That fact irritated her to her very core, not because of unfulfilled curiosity but because of fear for Ziva's future.

 _What if Gibbs gets mad again and sends her back to Israel? Maybe I should do something to her passport, just in case._

 _If I do that, Gibbs will probably get mad at me - probably the director too. I don't want that. I would like some time to make sitting less uncomfortable first._

 _Maybe they are just talking. Gibbs said that was all that he wanted to do. I can trust Gibbs. He's just talking to Ziva._

 _Wait - what if he is spanking Ziva? He swatted me again so he's definitely in the mood - that's definitely all my fault. Well, some of it would have been because of Ziva disappearing. That upset him a lot._

 _Hmm, if Gibbs is upset, that means that he cares for Ziva. If he cares, then he won't spank her for something that isn't her fault._

 _Oh no! What if he doesn't care? What if he was mad like he gets mad at suspects? He definitely made it sound like Ziva and I were suspects._

 _Abby! Gibbs doesn't treat his team like suspects - you know that! Stop being so silly. Gibbs won't hurt her. He might head slap her, but he'll keep her around._

 _He will keep her around, right? I hope so! _

_Hmm, I hope Gibbs won't spank me again. I wasn't exactly respectful in the stairwell. But again, he said that he wanted to "talk". But that can mean just talk nicely, or that can me a scolding, or that can mean that he will tell me about all the consequences of my actions and discipline me ... I really hope that he meant that we would just talk nicely. That might be wishful thinking._

 _Oh dear! What if Gibbs got upset at Ziva and she got upset too and she killed Gibbs with a paperclip! Oh, no!_

 _ABBY! That would not have happened. Neither of them seemed_ _that_ _upset._

 _But what if they were?_

 _It's boring sitting here._

 _Maybe ..._

 _No, I need to stay here and wait for Gibbs. He'll be right down and if he catches me leaving he'll be really upset with me and I don't want him to be upset with me again. I've already had enough of that. A spanking yesterday and two swats today! Yes, I think that I will retire from mischief._

 _Maybe ..._

 _It couldn't hurt to just go take a peek, could it? I'd be right back here before Gibbs ever knew that I was spying on them. I just can't let him send Ziva back. That wouldn't be fair!_

 _Maybe ..._

 _Yes, it couldn't hurt. I'll just do that. Just sneak out of the door and take the stairs. I'll walk quietly so even Gibbs won't be able to hear me._

 _Yes!_

 _Just slid the door open and step ou ... Oh, no!_

"Where ya going, Abs?"

...

Ziva walked down to her parking spot. A cold December wind whooshed past and Ziva shivered. She hated these winter days.

She had been amazed at how easily Gibbs had let her off. The mildest of scoldings and a slight head slap - definitely more merciful than she had expected.

 _But what about Abby?_

 _Where did that thought come from?_

Ziva froze next to her car, thinking of the perky Goth - thinking of how the perky Goth had stood up for her to their irate boss. Abby had, for some reason that Ziva could not understand by any stretch of her knowledge or imagination, been trying to _protect_ Ziva.

 _Why?_

Three tiny letters, one short word, no answer.

Ziva opened her car and slumped into the driver's seat. Normally she would have pulled out and headed home as quickly as possible. It had been a long Sunday with significantly little enjoyment. Her home was waiting for her. But she could not leave.

Abby was still here.

 _Everyone knows that she's Gibbs' favourite. There is no need to worry. After everything that she has said over the last few weeks, why would I worry anyway?_

 _She was kind to me._

 _Does that really make up for all of the unkind things she has done? She deserves any displeasure from Gibbs._

 _But she was kind to me._

 _What is this feeling? It is so strange. I don't want it. I want to go home and relax and forget all about today._

Ziva placed her keys in the ignition. She turned the car on and the heaters began to blast the cold air. She turned them off and waited for the engine to warm. She reached to put the car into drive, but stopped.

 _I can't do that. I can't just leave without seeing if she is okay._

Ziva let out a frustrated sigh as she leaned back in her seat. A knock on her window startled her. She turned to see Tony. He opened the door.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked tersely.

"Uh, trouble with Gibbs and now you're just sitting here in your car when normally you're barely in before you go barreling out."

Ziva smiled, acknowledging the truth in his words.

"So, how was it with Gibbs? You okay?"

Tony's voice held genuine concern, so Ziva graced him with the smallest of nods. "It is fine between us now. I will be staying."

"He threatened that you weren't?"

"Yes, but Abby explained the situation."

"What situation?"

"Tony, I'm tired. Just let it snow until tomorrow, please?"

"Let it go?"

"I thought it was a song."

"Nope."

Tony smiled and patted her shoulder. "Sure. Usually don't feel like talking too much after Gibbs gets mad either."

"Thanks."

"Anyway, the main reason I came over was to check if you had car problems. Do you?"

"No. It is fine."

"Then why are you still ..."

"Abby. I'm waiting to see Abby before I go home."

"Abby?" McGee asked, popping into view from behind Tony. Worry etched his face. "Why do you want to see Abby?"

 _He probably thinks that I want to gut her. Good old McGee. He is a good guy._

"To say thank you."

"Oh." Both men looked surprised - pleasantly surprised - at that statement.

"See you tomorrow then," McGee said, shivering in the cold. "I'm heading home."

"See you," Tony said. Ziva waved. Left alone, Tony turned to Ziva and noted, with a tenderness that even she appreciated, "If you ever need to talk, just call me, okay?"

"You?"

"I might not know all the answers, but I'll listen."

"Thanks, Tony."

"Anytime. See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

And Ziva was once again alone. She watched McGee and Tony drive past - McGee waving at her and Tony dramatically blowing her a kiss which made her laugh.

She was not alone for too long.

...

"Where were you going?" Gibbs repeated sternly after getting Abby to look him in the eyes.

"No ... nowhere."

 _Please believe it, please!_

"You're a terrible liar," Gibbs stated firmly.

"Yes, si ... Gibbs."

Gibbs smiled, breaking the tension in the room. Abby felt her spirits rise a little, but they dropped again when his expression changed back to serious.

"You were disrespectful."

Abby dropped her head, so she didn't see him move forward until she was enfolded in his arms and he whispered in her ear, "But I'm proud of you."

"Proud?" she gasped, pulling back to see if he was serious. She had been fully expecting some form of discipline, especially with Gibbs catching her about to sneak upstairs.

"I'm proud to see you stand up for Ziva, even at your own disadvantage."

"It wasn't really her fault."

"Parts were. Just like parts of your disrespect were."

"Yeah, about that ..."

"Yep. That's why I gave you a spank. I thought about it. Shouldn't have done that in front of Ziva. Didn't mean to embarrass you."

"You didn't." And, strangely, it truly had not. It had been like getting swatted in front of her brother as a child - not fun, but there was a confidence that the other would understand, a sibling support system.

 _But is Ziva really my sister?_

"Good to see my girls getting along, even if it was against me," Gibbs admitted.

 _"My girls"? Oh, he adopted her! We ARE sisters!_

Abby hugged him tightly. He seemed surprised by the gesture but gave her a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"Love you, Gibbs!"

"Love ya too, Abs. Get going home. See ya in the morning."

...

Abby scurried out of the door. Snow blew into her face and she blinked it away.

"Abby!"

Abby spotted Ziva's - _my sister's_ \- car window open and walked over. "You okay?"

Ziva's face was taut with badly concealed concern. "Are you?"

"Oh, yeah, Gibbs wasn't hard on me at all - which was surprising because normally he wouldn't let me get away with acting like that but I think that he was happy because I finally was being nice to you and it was about time, you know, and ..."

The wind rushed past again.

"The weather is getting worse," Ziva noted.

"Yeah. We're supposed to have a big storm tonight."

"We are?"

"Yeah. Didn't you see the forecast?"

"No. Been busy all day," Ziva admitted.

"It's gonna be bad!" Abby paused a moment, then made the offer. "Want to come over to my house for supper?"

Ziva hesitated, then nodded. She really did want to make sure that Abby was fully okay, and having company instead of a cold and solitary meal at her own apartment sounded appealing. Abby saw the nod and grinned joyously.

"Then let's go!"

...

While Ziva followed Abby's hearse to Abby's apartment, Gibbs headed back to his own house. What a relief to only see snowflakes on his porch!

The only lady here tonight was his boat.

He could not wait to spend some quality time with her!

...

 **Please remember to review! Thanks!**

 **For anyone wanting another Abby story I posted one awhile back called "Experimentation". It is just a one-shot, but I tried to make it humourous. Check it out!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Goodness, this is nearly twice as long as what I normally write for one chapter! But as there's not really a great spot to divide it, I'll leave it as is - a special weekend surprise for all the readers.**

 **I rather struggled with this chapter as it includes a lot of explaining by Abby and not a whole lot of action! I hope that it makes sense to all of you readers - I may end up editing over the next few days. I just had soooooo much information to cram in before the chapter closer.**

 **Thanks to the reviewers -Hippiechic81, Psyche53, spacekitten2700, DS2010, and BohoAngel. I love hearing from each and every one of you. I know that you guys aren't the only readers, due to all of the views - but you are the readers that I get to "know" and I treasure that experience!  
**

 **Now, let's enjoy!**

 **...**

"Come on in," Abby invited, holding her door open.

"Thanks." Ziva entered, alert as always but curious as to what Abby's house would be like. It was as interesting as the girl herself - black and white beads hung from the door frames, creating a hippie vibe. Strange photographs, blown-up, covered the walls. From the similarities to the art in the lab, Ziva could only guess that they were pictures of injuries or other gruesome possibilities that she did not necessarily want to consider. Skulls glinted and grinned from where they were embroidered on cushions with sequins. A large area mat twisted with black, white, and red swirls.

"Cool, isn't it?" Abby asked, grinning at the expression of bewilderment on Ziva's face.

"I can honestly say that I have never seen a house like it," Ziva stated.

"Do you like it?"

Ziva hesitated, trying to be honest while not hurting Abby's family. "I ... guess so?"

Abby grinned. "So you think it is strange?"

"Um ..."

Abby giggled. "Gibbs thinks it is strange too. McGee doesn't mind it, even my bedroom. Tony thinks that I'm either cool or crazy, and I think that it is absolutely fantastic." She headed for the kitchen, disappearing through the curtain of beads which clinked gently behind her. "What do you feel like for supper?"

"Anything," Ziva said amiably. She ducked among the beads and followed Abby. The kitchen was fully of unique dishes, decorated in all sorts of gothic designs.

Abby looked in her refrigerator, trying to find inspiration.

"Plain rice? Plain pasta? Wilted lettuce salad?" She pulled out of the fridge."Take out?" She smiled sheepishly. "I apparently don't have as many groceries as I remembered."

"Thai - my treat?" Ziva suggested.

"Sounds delicious, but I invited you over!" Abby argued. Ziva smiled, but ducked away as Abby tried to steal her phone. "Give me your phone!" Abby demanded, trying to tackle Ziva who skillfully stepped to the side and laughed. "The Chai Thai Place? Yes, I'm wanting to order for delivery."

"Oh, that place is good despite the strange name!" Abby exclaimed. Ziva smiled.

"Can I have one number three and one number five delivered to ...?" Ziva looked at Abby.

Abby reached out and grabbed the phone. "Add a number seven with extra spicy sauce. Deliver to my apartment." Abby gave the address and hung up, but not before adding, "This Abby Scuito. Make sure that I get to pay, not Ziva David."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "You know, I don't mind. You already invited me over."

"Yes, for supper! You have to let me pay for it." Abby shook her finger at Ziva. "See? I know exactly what I want and I'm going to get it."

"Yeah, I notice that you operate on that principle at times," Ziva said. She reached up and held her necklace, playing with it as she often did when she was confused. "You did it earlier today."

Abby cocked her head to the side. "When?"

"When you convinced Gibbs not to send me away."

"Oh." Abby paused, then grabbed two bottles of soda from the fridge and handed one to Ziva. "Coke fine?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go talk in the living room while we talk." She winced as she added, "I can use the more comfortable seats."

Ziva followed Abby into the living room and they both sat on the sofa. The thick blankets draped over the couch were comforting on the cold evening. She took a swig of the drink, then went back to their previous discussion.

"So ... thank you ... for helping with Gibbs today when he was ready to send me away."

"Oh," Abby waved it off as if it were nothing. "I needed to make up for how mean I was to you anyway. Plus, you know that he wasn't really going to do that, right? That was just Gibbs being Gibbs. You should hear him with Kate and Tony - I mean, you should have heard him with them. He would threaten to fire them nearly every case if they were goofing off when they needed to be focused."

"You didn't really need to help me," Ziva informed the Goth, her pride rising as she ignored the attempt at comfort. Abby sensed it and threw her hands up.

"Hey, don't get upset! I need people to rescue me from Gibbs all the time."

Ziva focused on examining the beads and avoiding Abby's eyes as she quietly added, "Like today."

"Today?" The note of confusion was genuine in Abby's voice.

"Gibbs ... he was mad at you too and I did nothing." Ziva felt ashamed just admitting it - and shame was not normal for her to experience.

"Oh, that was nothing. He was just still not happy with me for yesterday, but he just told me not to be disrespectful anymore and then told me to go home."

"But ... never mind."

"Never mind what?" Abby probed, taking another drink from her soda.

"He ... he ..."

Abby looked at her strangely, then recognition dawned on her face - along with a faint blush. There would only be one thing in that conversation that would throw Ziva off so much. "You mean that Gibbs swatted me."

Ziva nodded.

"And you're wondering why?"

"Yes."

The doorbell rang and Abby sprang up with the command, "Hold onto that thought. I'll answer in a sec."

"Let me pay for the food!"

Abby peeked out the peep hole and exclaimed, "No way! I'm paying!" She grabbed some cash and handed it to the delivery man. "Keep the rest for a tip." Ziva stepped forward to help Abby with juggling the styrofoam containers. Abby locked the door behind them, noting as she did so that it had started to snow in earnest within the last fifteen minutes since they left work, then they both went back to the living room where they spread out the containers on the coffee table. Abby scrounged up some dishes and Ziva located the chopsticks within the pile. After piling their plates with the savory food, they sat back onto the couch, Abby's preference for that seating area obvious.

Abby sighed with pleasure as she chewed the first bite. "Wow! This is some good stuff!"

"Mmh!" Ziva agreed around a mouthful of noodles.

"So, back to what I was saying before the food arrived, Gibbs just swatted me because he was out of patience. He got after me just last night for being disrespectful, and here I was doing it again. So, yeah, he wasn't feeling too patient in the stairwell so he gave me a spank to remind me to behave. Kinda like how he gives all of you guys head slaps."

"But why a ... spank? Why not head slap you?"

Abby shrugged. "I don't know. If you could convince him to change, it'd be nice, but that's the way Gibbs is. Who can fully understand him? Mmm! I love rice!"

"But isn't it inappropriate?" Ziva asked.

"Inappropriate?" Abby nearly choked on her food with her snort of laughter. "By who's standards? When does Gibbs follow social norms, Ziva? You might not have been here for too long but surely you know the answer to that."

Ziva paused for a second before acknowledging "Never. But doesn't it ..." She stopped, unable to articulate her questions. She was too tired and hungry. She captured more noodles with her chopsticks and gulped them down hungrily.

 _But doesn't it what, Ziva?_

Then a thought flashed into Abby's mind that horrified her.

 _Maybe Ziva doesn't understand what I'm talking about. Maybe she's never been able to trust someone like I trust Gibbs. Maybe ... hmm ... having a father who's the head of one of the world's top agencies probably isn't the greatest thing, especially when he uses you as an undercover assassin spy ninja ... I wonder ... I'm glad that he wasn't my dad ... and I'm glad he isn't Gibbs! I'm glad that both of my father figures are people that Gibbs would say "work for a living". Maybe ... maybe Gibbs will be able to help Ziva an awful lot. If she let's him. She's got to let him! It's just too sad not to have a dad! _

_Wait, what if she's been around abusive people and doesn't understand that Gibbs was correcting me, not hurting me? I'd better explain. After all, she still seems confused so I might as well tell her the whole truth now so that she'll understand and not get upset in the future if she learns about Gibbs giving someone - probably me! - another spanking. After all, it'll be less embarrassing for both of us if she learns from me instead of good old big brother Tony! Or McGee - poor guy! I think that he would blush red as a poppy if Ziva ever asked him anything about spankings. Gibbs - she wouldn't ask him, and the first time that he'd probably bring it up would be if he was ready to spank her, which would not be the best time for her to learn about it. Yes, I'd better tell her, sister to sister._

 _It'll be best for everyone around - except maybe me! Isn't it enough that I already got spanked? Not that Gibbs embarrasses me, but I don't exactly like telling people about it - although I did tell Tony and Tim, but they had already guessed and were there to sympathize, while who knows how Ziva will react. Abby, you're stalling. Just tell Ziva and get it done with so that you can eat your supper!_

Abby turned to Ziva with such concern on her face that Ziva froze with her chopsticks halfway to her mouth and immediately demanded, "Abby, what's the matter?"

"Listen," Abby commanded.

"O...kay."

"Have you noticed that I'm not sitting well today?"

"Yes."

"Gibbs spanked me last night for being so mean to you and disobeying him and a whole load of other things that I would rather not get into, if you don't mind. Anyway, that's how it works with Gibbs and me, and sometimes other people too around him. If we break certain rules, he's going to punish us, except he doesn't use the word punish - he says discipline because he says that punishment seems to avenge, while discipline is meant to teach and he only bothers to discipline those who he cares enough about to teach to act and behave better. Anyway, so he had spanked me and it hurt a lot and that was why he gave me that swat again today - he normally doesn't do that but he did today because he had already spanked me last night and was reminding me that I was very close to getting a second spanking for repeating being disrespectful so soon." Abby paused to catch her breath and took in Ziva's dazed expression. "Did you understand any of that?"

"You mean that you let him ... spank you?" Ziva asked slowly, her eyes big.

Abby smiled. "Oh, yes. Originally, the first time, I actually asked him to."

"Why?"

Abby bit her lip, remembering that unpleasant occasion. "That's a story for a different time."

"I mean, why would you ask him to hurt you?"

Abby gave Ziva a sad smile. "Ziva, it's not asking him to hurt me. A spanking is more than pain. In fact, that's the last part. I mean, it's the part that helps it work in getting me to behave myself, but really getting spanked is much more about the relationship and showing that I trust Gibbs the way that I'd trust my daddy if he was alive and here. I got spanked all the time growing up. It hurt, but what hurt most was knowing that I had hurt my parents and sometimes others with my stupid actions. That hurt more than any spanking ever could. A spanking is more of a way to atone for my actions. It is a consequence that deters me from doing that behaviour again and kind of clears the slate."

Ziva's face betrayed her confusion over the idiom, but she did not interrupt to ask about it. She would store it away to ask Ducky about - Ducky _always_ had an explanation and never made fun of her mistakes, although they did confuse even him at times. But that would wait - Abby was continuing her epic explanation.

"After being spanked, I feel sorry for whatever I did. It isn't abuse - neither my parents nor Gibbs have ever left a mark. It hurts for a bit, then I move on with life, forgiven and free to try harder next time without the guilt - which I don't deal well with."

Abby paused to eat some chicken, so Ziva took the silence as a chance to ask, "And you're okay with that?"

Abby shrugged. "I'm more than okay with it. That's the only reason Gibbs does it. I know that if I want to avoid getting spanked to behave. We both know the rules, as well as the consequences to breaking the rules. We've both agreed. That's really all there is too it."

 _All there is to it._

The words echoed in Ziva's head, clashing with remembered words from her own childhood.

 _You've made a disaster of this - that's all there is to it._

 _Don't cry at the pain - you don't deserve the right to cry._

 _You will be punished._

 _You do not deserve to be forgiven. Your mistake was unforgivable._

 _You know better._

 _Get revenge._

 _Punishment._

 _Pain._

 _Revenge._

 _Undeserving._

 _Unforgivable._

 _Anger._

 _Pain._

 _Anger and pain - always combined._

 _Anger._

 _Pain._

 _Abba, forgive me._

 _No._

She shivered.

"Ziva?"

Ziva jerked back to the present, the only clue to her momentary lapse of involvement a slightly deeper breath.

Abby searched Ziva's face for some clue as to what was bothering the Israeli. Something had just happened, something hidden under the surface.

 _Oh, Ziva, I'll help you_ , she promised as she noticed the haunting look of emotional pain that flickered in Ziva's eyes for just a fraction of a second before Ziva shuttered her heart once again, refocusing on Abby and their supper.

 _Ziva, I would have hurt you too - but now? Now I promise to do everything I can to help you fit into our crazy family. I promise, cross my heart and hope to ... not die - I want to live for a long time, plus I couldn't help you if I was dead._

Abby, with her mind made up, decided to change the conversation, noticing with pleasure that doing so seemed to calm Ziva. Abby shared more about her upbringing, her life with deaf parents and the hijinks that she and her brother had caused while growing up in the south. Ziva shared tiny morsels of her past, choosing to listen more than talk. Still, she was opening up a tiny part of her that Abby had not paid much attention to before today - and that was a good start.

 _Ding dong ding dong, ding dong ding dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

 _Dong._

"Is it 10:00 already?" Abby asked eventually, turning to examine her clock. The hours had slipped by so quickly with the pleasant visit.

 _It's like having a part of Kate_ _back,_ Abby mused contentedly. The thought was a happy one.

"It's 10:00?! I must go home. I didn't know it was so late!" Ziva exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

Abby walked over to the window as Ziva collected her phone and reholstered the gun that she had placed on a table when she first arrived.

"We might have a problem," Abby announced.

"What?"

"I don't think that you can leave."

"Why?" Ziva asked, coming to stand beside Abby. Then she answered her own question in unison with Abby.

"We're snowed in."

...

 **Did you enjoy this crazily long chapter? You know, in return for free reading material, you could leave a review. It would be highly appreciated! Thanks! (P.S. Any other readers that you enjoy? Make sure to leave reviews for them too - it is the only "pay" that we receive. The more you comment, the more motivated I -and likely they - are to continue posting!)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Well, our friends are snowed in - what will happen next?!**

 **Thanks to all of the reviewers - Hippiechic81, KrisShannon, DS2010,, spacekitten2700, and fiftyshadeswritergal. AmyV24, I didn't get to respond since you used "Guest" to comment, but thanks for taking the time to comment (and identify yourself, so that I could thank you specifically!). Eveline85, thank you too! If I'm right, that was your first comment, and it is exciting to me to know that others are joining in this story along the way!**

 **Let's read!**

 **...**

"We're snowed in," Abby repeated.

"This is horrible," Ziva groaned.

"This is fantastic!" Abby squealed.

"What?" they both said, turning to the other. Abby grinned and grabbed Ziva's hand excitedly. "This is great! We'll get to have a sleepover!"

"A what?"

"A sleepover!" Abby looked at Ziva, confused. "Didn't you have sleepovers as a kid?"

"No. Not allowed."

"Oh." Abby's face fell before lighting up with memories of her own childhood. "Well, my parents were deaf so the noise of having a ton of kids in their living room didn't bother them. That allowed me to be the sleepover queen of my neighbourhood!"

"What would you do?" Ziva asked. She could remember jealously standing on the sidelines, listening in on the conversations of the other little girls at school as they chattered about parties and sleepovers. Originally some of them had invited her, but after enough forced refusals, she never even received invitations. Friendships were strengthened outside of school, and slowly Eli David's daughter was left on her own - no phone calls in the evening, no notes passed in class, no secrets whispered during lunch. She was alone with nothing better to do than tag along with Ari as he trained. Eventually it had morphed into her own training regime. She had told herself that she was too busy to have friends, that parties were distractions, that sleepovers were stupid. She graduated early, not only ready to serve her compulsory stint in the military but to dedicate her life to protecting Israel. Eli had won - isolated, the only life she had a chance to know was one filled with harsh training and harsher realities. She had eventually served with a couple of girls from her school - she was stronger, faster, better than them. She was harder too. Before she turned twenty she had already killed more people than she could remember. She chose to forget the faces, block out the last words, ignore the begging pleas. Perhaps, with sleepovers, she would not have achieved that. Perhaps that would have been a good thing.

Abby, unaware of Ziva's past, was focused on their present. "Sleepovers are so fun! We'd watch movies, play games, talk about boys, eat treats and ice cream, get hyper, and stay up all night!"

 _That sounds like something that I would have liked to do. If I had been allowed. But there was good reason that I wasn't. Remember - the mission matters more than the operative. All sacrifices are worth it._

"So, since this is your first sleepover, we'll have to make it really good," Abby noted. "Thankfully, I have tons of snacks and movies. Come on, let's choose some! And we need to make hot chocolate. Actually, hot chocolate or coffee? Maybe both - we need caffeine to stay up. Come on!"

"But work tomorrow," Ziva protested, yet she still followed Abby and helped mix up the drinks while Abby pulled out bags of chips and snack foods. Abby filled a bowl with chocolate and Ziva tried one. "Dark chocolate - my favourite!"

"Good. I have a lot of it that I bought on sale. Help yourself."

They loaded the coffee table with treats and Abby put on a movie. They laughed and talked about their favourite scenes, enjoying themselves as they ate pretzels and chips; drinking soda, hot chocolate, and coffee. Abby wished that there was no snow simply for the fact that she wanted a Caf-Pow! from the corner store, but she contented herself with what she had after Ziva reminded her that they would not be having a sleepover if there was no snow. They talked about guys, which was mostly Abby pestering Ziva for her opinions on a certain Anthony DiNozzo, Jr.. Ziva was grateful for her interrogation training - without it, who knew what Abby might have discovered?

"Abby! It's midnight!" Ziva finally announced, looking at her watch.

"Really?"

"Yes! And tomorrow we've got to work."

"But we're snowed in."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "How long could it take to get out?" She stood up and stretched. "We need to sleep, Abby."

Abby pouted slightly. "But it's only 12:00!"

"Only?" Ziva frowned. "Aren't you tired? Gibbs had us all at work at what? It was before 6:00."

"Well, I was tired, but it still isn't too late."

"It isn't?! I normally go to sleep around 10:00."

"That early?"

"Early? I get up at 6:00 most days to run and exercise. If I want to be rested, I have to go to bed at 10:00."

"Oh. I get up just in time to get dressed and go to work."

Ziva rolled her eyes. She was starting to feel grumpy now that she knew how late it was. The long day was coming crashing down on her and she just wanted to sleep.

"I'd let you have my bed, but it is a coffin, and I don't know if you'd like that, so you'd better take the couch," Abby suggested, standing up and moving the coffee table to the side. "It pulls out to be a bed." She demonstrated, rearranging the sofa cushions.

"Wait - a coffin?"

"Yes, I sleep in one," Abby said as calmly as if she was saying whether she slept in a twin or a queen. "Didn't you know?"

"No." Ziva was examining the Goth once again, trying to discern if there was something really wrong with her. A yawn cut off her line of thought.

 _Does it even matter?_

As long as she had a place to sleep tonight, that was all that mattered.

Snuggled under the skull and crossbones sheets and blankets, she had to admit - her first sleepover had been fun.

 _And there's no reason for me NOT to enjoy it!_ was her last, slightly defiant thought before drifting to sleep.

...

"Good morning, Abby!"

"Argh!" Abby groaned, barely able to keep her eyes open as she stumbled into the kitchen. "What time is it anyway?"

"It is 6:30," Ziva informed her cheerfully. "Did I wake you?"

"Yes," Abby grumped, grabbing a soda from her fridge and drinking some.

"Want to stretch with me?" Ziva offered. The death glare from Abby spoke for itself. "Okay, I'll just do it on my own."

...

Gibbs woke at 6:00. One glance out of his window toward a nearby streetlamp revealed that it was still snowing. From the depth he could only guess that work would be, at the least, delayed. He hit the radio and it blared on. The weatherman was just giving his decree that this was the worst snowstorm in the state for the last ten years.

 _I'll have to check on the kids._

…

"Yay! It's the worst storm here in ten whole years!" Abby was suddenly awake as she read the weather report on her phone.

"Why is that good?" Ziva asked, rather surprised by Abby's excitement.

"We are in a blizzard!"

Ziva looked out of the window speculatively. "Looks cold." She grabbed a mug and got a cup of coffee from the machine that had been programed the night before during Abby's rush through the kitchen.

"It is," Abby noted, checking the temperature on her phone. "The wind chill is bad!" Her phone rang and she grabbed it, flipping it open with a smile once she saw the name on the screen.

"Hey, Gibbs!"

"You're wide awake for this time of the morning," he commented.

"Ziva woke me up - plus, I am excited about the snow."

"Wait - Ziva woke you up?"

"Yeah. She spent the night."

The shocked silence on the other end of the phone could have been predicted.

...

 _Now they're spending time together? Should have confronted Abby long ago if that was all that it took for them to become best friends._

Gibbs listened as Abby checked the door - there was a solid drift of snow blocking his two girls inside of Abby's apartment, and Abby chose now to remember that her building manager, away in Florida, had fired the snow removal service and that residents were now responsible for digging themselves out. It was the same stunt he did nearly every year, and Gibbs had been forced to "rescue" Abby several times before.

 _And that's why she got the apartment cheap._

"So, Gibbs, we'll just have to have a day off work, right?" The hopeful tone reminded him of being on the phone with Kelly during his deployments, her perpetual wish that school would be cancelled, even if it was only flurrying outside. It made him smile.

"Will you be fine until noon?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes - maybe even until tomorrow."

He smiled, finding humour in Abby's optimism.

"I'll be around soon as I can."

"No hurry, Gibbs, no hurry."

"Can I say 'hi' to Ziva?"

"Yep. Here she is." The phone was transferred and Ziva came on with "Good morning, Gibbs."

"Morning, Ziva. You fine at Abby's until I can dig you girls out? It'll probably be around noon," he surmised. Despite Abby's assurances, he needed to know that Ziva was fine with the situation.

"Oh, yes, we'll be fine," Ziva assured him. A shout in the background worried him, but Ziva's giggle set him at ease. "Abby said to tell you that we've got lots of coffee, so we're okay."

"She'll be fine - you might want to watch how much she has," Gibbs warned lightheartedly. "She gets a little crazy on high dosages of caffeine."

"I"ll be fine," Ziva promised.

"Okay. Have fun."

"Um … we … we will!"

 _Abby's optimism seems to wearing off on the assassin!_

 _..._

 **So, I'd love your opinions. How much longer do you think this story should go? I need to get to Christmas, but I've got a lot of what I wanted to accomplish in this story done. If there are no requests for scenes that spark an interest, I'll probably move towards Christmas rather quickly after I get the girls out of being snowed into the apartment. I'm thinking maybe five or six more chapters right now - as you know, I can stretch out my scenes quite a bit, so this may change. Any thoughts or suggestions? I love to hear from you all in the comments!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! I was delighted to have sherryola join us (love having new readers and commenters!). I'd also love to thank the unidentified Guest - so glad that you are enjoying. AmyV24, as you commented as a Guest I couldn't respond, but I really appreciated your comment as well. There were quite a few others too - KrisShannon, Eveline85, fiftyshadeswritergal, Hippiechic81, DS2010,, and BohoAngel! Hugs to you all!**

 **I have come up with a plan for the rest of the story. As this is a Christmas story, I thought it would be appropriate to end with twenty-five chapters. So after this, there will be five more. I have a little schedule now, and thanks to the wonderful responses and suggestions, these next chapters should be filled with all the excitement that you asked me to provide! I have a list below of where your ideas will be included for those who are wondering:**

 **Chapter 20 (this chapter): AmyV24 (partly this chapter); KrisShannon (part of your idea in this chapter)**

 **Chapter 21: AmyV24 (other half!); KrisShannon (other half!)**

 **Chapter 22: fiftyshadeswritergal**

 **Chapter 24: sherryola; Eveline85; Hippiechic81**

 **Any other ideas mentioned in the comments or messages will be considered! Now, who wants to see what Abby and Ziva are doing now that they cannot get in to work?**

 **...**

"We are stuck in here, Abby?" Ziva asked, going to the window and squinting out through the tiny holes in the thick layer of snow that coated the pane.

"Yep! We're stuck!" The glee was obvious in Abby's face. It was conspicuously missing from Ziva's.

 _I do not like this. What if I have to protect myself? What if I need to exit this building quickly? What if ...?_

"Isn't it?"

 _What did she ask me?_

"What?"

Abby grinned, spinning around with a huge grin. "Aren't snow days the best?!"

"Hmm," Ziva hummed. She would not commit to one opinion or the other, but she was leaning towards it being bad, very bad indeed. Abby's upset squeal brought her back to their current situation.

"I'll have to wait even longer to get my Caf-Pow!" she hollered as unhappily as if announcing that her heart was failing.

 _Perhaps it will if she does not get her drink. But wait? Would that not be bad for her heart? Perhaps this is actually good for her body, no?_

One look at Abby's devastated expression convinced Ziva that such a comment would not be welcome.

 _I will leave dear Ducky to lecture her on the dangers of too much caffeine. If he scolds me, he surely must scold her. And Gibbs! I wonder if Ducky could order Gibbs off of coffee? That would be interest... no! That would be lethal to any agents with their heads anywhere close to him! If Ducky told Gibbs to not drink any coffee, I would probably sneak him some just for self-protection. I do not think that a crossed Ducky would be as frightening as a caffeine-missing Gibbs._

 _WAIT! WHAT IS ABBY_ DOING?

"ABBY!"

Abby jerked up and looked at Ziva with wide eyes, looking rather like a raccoon caught in the act of stealing bird seed. "What?" she whined defensively.

Ziva stalked over and tried to grab the tablet that Abby had been grinding, but Abby snatched it up first. "What is that?" Ziva demanded suspiciously.

"Nothing!"

"Give it to me!"

"No!"

"Give it!"

"No!"

"Give ..." Ziva paused. This was sounding rather like the nursery school the times that she could remember visiting with her mother to pick up her little sister at the end of the day.

Ziva reached out and tried to grab the tablet from Abby's tightly clenched fist, but she was too slow. Abby had dropped it into her can of soda and was swishing the sugary drink to help it quickly dissolve.

"Are you trying to get low on drugs?" Ziva shouted.

"High. You get high on drugs."

"So you are?"

"No! This isn't a drug! It's just a tablet."

Something about Abby's body language still had Ziva on edge. She pressed on with, "What kind of tablet?"

Abby raised her can and took several quick gulps, as if afraid of her treat being confiscated. She wiped off her lips on her sleeve and finally gave the glaring Ziva an answer.

"Caffeine."

"Caffeine?"

"Yes. I keep them here for emergencies?"

"What kind of emergencies? We're aren't in an emergency!"

Abby huffed, exasperated. She rolled her eyes as she responded. "We OBVIOUSLY are, ZI-VA! I can't get a Caf-Pow! so these will just have to do. Not as powerful, but I put in two so I should survive until Gibbs digs us out."

"TWO pills?!"

"Hey, at least it wasn't three!"

...

It only took half an hour to prove that two caffeine pills mixed with a soda was not only "sufficient" to "survive" until the liberation and next Caf-Pow!, it was FAR too much caffeine in Abby's system. The Goth was jumping up and down, bouncing from place to place insisting that she show Ziva "all her treasures". She had pulled out all the ingredients for a cake, then abandoned the idea and the refrigerator. Thankfully, Ziva was there to close the door to prevent the electricity bill from running too high.

"Ever write a letter to Santa?" Abby asked, rushing to a desk and pulling out two spider pens and some ghost stationery.

"Do you remember, Abby? I am not from America. In Israel we celebrate Hannukah, not Christmas, so no, I have not ever written to Santa."

"Then we need to do that now!"

"Isn't that for children?"

Abby ignored Ziva, instead grabbing a pen and started her letter. "Dear Santa Claus," she mumbled. "I've _tried_ to be good."

Ziva flopped down in the chair across from Abby. At least this project would keep Abby in one spot for more than five seconds.

 _What could it hurt to partake in an American Christmas custom? Tony will never know! I might as well have fun.  
_

 _..._

Ziva's ears began to ring with Abby's loud music and even louder attempts at singing along to her favourite bands. An over-caffeinated Abby could not sing, Ziva discovered.

"Maybe I can find something in the kitchen to help?" Ziva mumbled to herself. She opened a drawer, hoping to find some ear plugs or perhaps some headphones that she could plug into her own phone to stream some white noise. Instead she found a certain bottle. She considered it for a moment, then turned to the living room.

"Hey, Abby, mind if I have one of your tablets?"

...

 **Sorry that this was a little shorter but it is getting late. If you guess that the next chapter will be a little bit more exciting, you would be right!**

 **Please remember to leave a review - I love to hear from you! Also, any suggestions for the next five chapters? Let me know - it just might get worked into the plot!**


	21. Chapter 21

**I was not sure how this was going to go, but I am really pleased with how the ending turned out. If you're really tired, you may want to hold back on reading this chapter - Abby is not in a calm mood! So gear up - she's high on caffeine!**

 **Thanks to those who's ideas helped inspire the last chapter and this chapter. After this one, we'll be back at the office for a bit, so Tim and Tony will be back in the picture for those who have been requesting their involvement!**

 **Thank you to all the reviewers. You have been so patient. This week has been busy, with two psychology media analysis outlines (on NCIS!) due, having to critique an essay for a fellow student, doing school, preparing for a church youth group I'm helping lead (who wants to cover foam stars with tin foil - one of those "never again - at least until I forget how bad it was!" projects!). Okay, that was an Abby moment. Refocusing. Thanks to Hippiechic81, sherryola, KrisShannon, DS2010, spacekitten2700 - your reviews were an exciting part of my week! Grumpy Alchemist - thank you for your comment and welcome to the reviewers list! NaughtyAngelBrat, thank you for your comments - they were appreciated! Welcome to you as well! (P.S. I totally think that your username could be a nickname for Abby in this story! I love it!)  
**

 **Too long of a note, as usual. Let's move on, as usual. Enjoy, as I hope is usual!**

 **...**

Ziva had never tried a caffeine tablet before in her life.

She promptly decided to never do so again.

"I feel like I'm vibrating," she complained.

"Yeah! Isn't it AWESOME?!" Abby cheered.

 _How does she live like this?!_

"I have to do something." Ziva felt like she chattered the statement.

"I want a Caf-Pow!" Abby commented for what seemed to be the hundredth time just that morning.

"I know. I'll dig you out!" Ziva exclaimed. Abby went to the door to the landing and opened it. A wall of snow met them.

"How?"

"I'll figure it out." Ziva did not want to be trapped anymore. She was starting to feel claustrophobic. Soon she was taking a giant spaghetti pot and shoveling snow from the doorway out of the window. It worked. After an hour of frenzied working, which Abby assisted with a mop bucket, the landing was free of snow. Abby swept off the last bit, then turned to Ziva.

"Let's go!"

"Go where?"

Both girls froze at the stern question. They turned slowly and there he was - Gibbs. He motioned for them to head back into the apartment. They obeyed - Abby doing so very sadly. She could see her caffeine dreams fading away as he eyed her suspiciously.

"Who dug you out?" he asked, knocking the snow off his boots as his girls did the same.

"We did!" Abby answered cheerfully. He glared at her and she seemed to shrink back a little bit, but she bravely continued, "We were going to go to the corner store and get Caf-Pows!"

 _What - she's already vibrating! And Ziva - her hands are shaking! What have they been into?_

"How much?" he demanded.

"How much what?" Abby shot back quickly.

"Caffeine."

"Well, I haven't had any Caf-Pow! yet," Abby hedged around the question. "I think that I might be a bit low."

"You mean high, Abigail. Ziva?"

She hesitated, confused as to why their boss was annoyed but willing to stay out of trouble. "Yes?"

"What have you been drinking?"

"I just had one coffee." _Why is he asking? OH! Because we're ... but he might get upset ... but I need to answer._ "But..." She hesitated again.

"But what, David? Spit it out!" Gibbs stated, frustrated with the lack of immediate answers.

 _Will I have to call Ducky?_

"Abby had some ..." Ziva paused as Abby began to make silent begging motions for her not to continue.

"Something you care to explain, Abs?" Gibbs questioned.

"Uh, not exactly," Abby mumbled.

"It was caffeine tablets," Ziva stated.

Gibbs was under no illusion as to who owned said tablets, nor as to who would have taken some first.

"ABBY!"

"Yeah?" she muttered, dropping her head.

"Did you save those caffeine tablets AFTER I told you to throw them out?" Gibbs demanded of Abby, who was backing up and looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"Umm, maybe I forgot?" she suggested hopefully.

 _Oh, Abby, are you trying to get us into trouble?_ Ziva wondered.

 _Nice try, Abs - you didn't forget! Don't smile at her. She could give herself a heart attack if she keeps doing this. Be stern._ Gibbs glared.

"Then maybe I need to 'remind' you."

One look at his stern gaze had Abby scrambling. "I'll go get rid of it now, Gibbs, sir."

"Bring them to me."

Abby slowly carried the packet over to him. It did not escape his or Ziva's notice that she kept as far away from him as possible as she handed him the package. Apparently she was not eager to be "reminded". Gibbs stifled a smile as he stuffed the package into his pocket, to be burnt in his fireplace at home. That junk was not necessary. Now a little coffee? That was fine. Hey, he even brought Abby Caf-Pows! as rewards. But caffeine tablets, of which he was sure she had taken far above the recommended usage? That was crossing a line, even for him.

 _Goodbye, my dear caffeine lifesavers, goodbye!_

Abby wiped a single tear out the corner of her eye, oblivious to the strange look that Ziva and Gibbs exchanged.

"How many?" Gibbs mouthed to Ziva. She shrugged. He switched to holding up fingers.

 _One?_

She shook her head.

 _Two?_

She looked uncertain.

 _Three?_

She shrugged.

 _Four?_

She gave him a half-smile. "Probably," she mouthed.

"What about you?" he asked Ziva.

"One. But, Gibbs? Why would she ... I feel horrible!"

 _Do I need to call Ducky?_ Gibbs wondered. One thing he knew for sure, he was not leaving the girls alone.

"Go get ready."

"For what?" Abby piped up, sensing adventure in the near future. Gibbs suppressed the urge to grin at her puppy-dog-eagerness. This was not meant as a reward for dousing herself in caffeine, even though he knew that Abby would probably inexplicably connect the two facts. He would clarify.

"Since you two are incapable of taking care of yourselves, I'll do it," he scolded. Ziva winced.

 _Oh, great. Just when we start to make progress, she'll be offended thinking that I don't trust her, when I'm actually meaning to scold Abby._

He quickly amended his words

"Abby, what kind of host feeds their guests caffeine alone?"

"It wasn't _just_ caffeine, Gibbs! I had lots of sugary treats too!"

 _Not working._

"ABBY! Don't you have any good food here?" He stalked into the kitchen and took a quick inventory.

 _Apparently she doesn't._

"Giiiiibbbbbbsss! Caffeine and sugar are two of the basic food groups! I am a perfect hostess, right, Ziva?"

"In other ways," Ziva offered diplomatically.

"Abs, you're smart. You know better," Gibbs scolded as he tried to help Abby get her coat on, which she was fumbling with excessively.

"Was she drinking?" he whispered into Ziva's ear. Abby was acting drunk.

"Only coffee and soda, which she mixed with the tablets..."

"Okay, I've got the picture."

 _Just thinking of that much caffeine makes me lightheaded!_

"You got some bottled water?" Gibbs asked Abby. She nodded. "I have a bunch in my panty - but Gibbs! Caf-Pows! are much better for quenching thirst."

"I bet they are," he muttered. "C'mon, girls, you head down to the car. I'll grab some water for both of you and lock up."

"Where are we going?" Ziva questioned.

"A little cafe down the street - Caroline's Cafe. Nice sandwiches and such. She's open - I checked on my way past."

"But Caroline's doesn't serve Caf-Pow!" Abby lamented loudly. Gibbs just rolled his eyes and sent her down to the parking lot, watching to be sure that they got down the stairs safely. He did not need to worry. Ziva was keeping a close eye on her new friend, protecting her from slipping on the ice.

Gibbs headed to the pantry and retrieved two water bottles. He headed back, fully intending to rush down after his girls, but something caught his eye - two envelopes, lying on the table. One had a tiny, neat address - the other was inscribed with a thick black markers. But both were labelled to Santa Claus. He smiled at the childish tradition. Abby must have been some hyped to convince Ziva to join in on the game. He slipped both letters into his coat.

Perhaps some dreams could be made to come true this year.

But first, to prevent one of his nightmares.

Gibbs hastily locked the apartment, then hurried to the car - just in time to swipe the Caf-Pow! from a delighted Abby seated next to a perturbed Ziva.

"HEY! That was MINE!" Abby protested loudly.

"Nope. It was going to be for you, but then I discovered that you decided to drug yourself with caffeine, despite my telling you not too after you did so only a couple months ago!" Gibbs pulled the drink away from Abby's outreached hands.

 _This kid has a problem!_

"I'm fine. I want it!" Abby whined, rather like a toddler. Unfortunately, although some caffeine could stimulate and power her genius, too much hampered her thinking process.

"Not happening. Now buckle up. We're leaving."

"NO!"

Gibbs jaw tightened. He understood that Abby was not thinking rationally at the moment, but her defiance was grating on his nerves - his very _fragile_ nerves. There were a few options of what he could do. He decided on the least damaging. He stepped out of the car, took the lid off the drink, and, ignoring Abby who was now chasing him as if her life depended upon it - as it likely did in her jumbled thinking - emptied the sugar-and-caffeine laden drink onto a snow bank. Abby immediately let out a wail.

"GIIIBBBSS!"

"ABBY!" he replied in a stern tone, trying not to laugh as she tried to gather the soda-laced snow into a pile in her mittens. An idea came to him.

 _Unconventional, but maybe it will work in this bizarre situation._

"Abs," he said softly, leaning in next to her ear as he turned her toward the car, where Ziva was watching, horrified yet curious. "You'd better start behaving or all Santa will be bringing you this year is a switch. Do you understand?"

Abby's eyes grew wide and she nodded hastily. She had not grown up in the South without understanding that particular threat better than she desired.

"I'll be good," she mumbled, looking over her shoulder sadly at the red snow. She let out a wistful sigh, but she got into the car.

"No sugar at the cafe, just some good old fashioned cooking," Gibbs warned as they parked.

"Mmm!" Ziva was smiling. That sounded wonderful to her. Maybe a hot chicken dish and macaroni and cheese - sort of a makeshift schnitzel and noodles.

"I want a sandwich," Abby announced.

"A sandwich? Why that? Caroline's serves a lot of good meals - I know. I've been here before with Tony during a stakeout," Ziva said, recognizing the small establishment.

"Because sandwiches come with chips," Abby explained. "And chips are salty ... so ..."

"So, what?" Ziva waited.

"So, I'll need soda too!"

...

 **I just fell in love with that ending! Fellow writers, surely you understand the satisfaction that comes with the perfect ending phrase for a chapter/story - well, this was that! It felt very Abbyish!**

 **Any ideas for the next chapter with Tim and Tony? I have saved some previous ideas, but if anyone has any requests, let me know!**

 **Please leave a review! See you in the next chapter! :) Love to you all!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Yay! I made it back! I'm sorry for the delay, but I did make it!**

 **Thank you to all the reviewers. I loved the common statement that the last chapter was the caffeine version of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". (For those who never read that lovely childhood story, find it or one of its many variations - they are adorable! Perhaps a good Christmas gift for someone you know during the next holiday season - in what? Nine months?!)**

 **fiftyshadeswritergal had wanted "plans", so the team creates their plans for Christmas. For all who requested the boys to get involved (such as Eveline85, fiftyshadeswritergal, and DS2010 [thanks for the reviews!]), here they are! Plus, I even sneaked in a "special" character - had to give "someone" a "helper". Can't give it away. Anyway, I think that you'll love the surprise!**

 **Onto the other reviewers - BohoAngel had a beautiful idea of getting Tony to "adopt" a family (actually the NCIS group) and buy gifts. I loved the prompt, but I didn't have room to fit it into this story. For those who would like to read the closest that I have, I have a short story "The NCIS Packs Shoe Boxes". BohoAngel, if you write a story (or anyone else does) on that prompt, let me know! I would love to read it. I just couldn't write it into this story - sorry! Maybe another time?**

 **Thanks to Hippiechic81 (who was first!) and sherryola. There were also some new reviewers (pardon me if I've gotten confused and you have commented before), so special thanks to Jenny wren (adorable name! I enjoyed a book on a fictional foster care story by the same title), HAOKO, and Grumpy Alchemist (adorable name too!). NaughtyAngelBrat, I don't know if you've reached this chapter yet, but thanks for your ongoing comments too!**

 **Guest, "SHOUTING" in anonymous, critical comments is mean. I deleted your words because you dishonoured mine. I hope that you understand. Have a great day.**

 **So, 11 nice reviewers! I appreciate it every time! Hugs, and let's read.**

 **...**

By Tuesday the two girls had recovered from their extreme caffeine dosages. Abby was still rather insulted by her deprivation of Caf-Pow! and soda. She stalked past Gibbs with two Caf-Pows!, tightly gripped in her gloved hands. She watched carefully for a reaction or attempted confiscation, but Gibbs did not favour her with even a glance. She disappeared into the elevator, sucking loudly on her straw and rattling the ice cubes. Only then did Gibbs allow himself to smirk. Ziva looked a little peaked from the headache that had gripped her the previous afternoon, but she was now feeling better and rapidly improving with the help of some pills provided by the compassionate McGee.

The headache was gone by lunch, as was the residual grudge. Abby scampered up to join the group and perched on the edge of McGee's desk, swiping apple slices from his lunch to supplement her own. McGee was in turn stealing sips from her current Caf-Pow! and asking for the hundredth time why she enjoyed tofu. Ziva and Tony were gobbling down burgers that Tony had picked up on the way back from interviewing a witness with Gibbs. Gibbs himself had disappeared mysteriously with a note on his desk that said that he would be back in three hours after doing "an errand for a friend". With the boss out of the way, there was time to visit a little before getting back on task.

"So, what are the plans for Christmas?" Abby asked, stealing her drink away from the teasing Tim.

"I have never celebrated Christmas. I'm Jewish. We celebrate Hannukah, which has already passed for this year," Ziva informed her.

"Well, this year, you've just got to celebrate Christmas with us," Abby insisted. "We always have some sort of family party. You'll love it, I promise!"

"It is fun." McGee rescued his last apple slice from Abby and snapped it in half so that they can both have part.

"We'll all be watching 'It's a Wonderful Life' in MTAC on Christmas Eve, like tradition. It's a classic, Ziva. You see, the plot goes like..."

"STOP!" Ziva gestured at Tony, who frowned in confusion.

"What?"

"Don't give away the whole story! I'll watch it with you, Tony, I just don't want to know the whole story now! You have ruined quite a few movies for me already."

"I don't ruin them, I just help you appreciate them more..."

"No! You ruin them!"

"No! You just don't know how to appreciate my tips..."

"Guys..."

In unison - "WHAT?!"

McGee looked startled at both of the agents turning on him with an unnecessary ferocity.

"Maybe ..."

"Maybe what, Probie?"

"Yes, maybe what, McGEE?"

"Maybe ... there are other things we should use this time to discuss?"

Ziva and Tony both leaned forward, narrowing their eyes in sync. "Like WHAT?"

McGee leaned back, rather intimidated by the duo.

"Like gifts!" Abby squealed.

"Gifts?" Tony was interested.

"Yes! We need to do a gift exchange. After all, this is Ziva's first Christmas, so we'll need to make it special. Speaking of," Abby looked at her watch. "I have half an hour left of my lunch break. I want to take a quick run to the mall. Want to come, Zi?"

"Me? Oh, yes!"

"McGee? You want to go?" Tony asked.

"Hey! We're doing private shopping."

"OH?" Tony asked teasingly.

"Oh, clean up your mind," Abby scolded, smacking his arm as she scrambled past. "I mean that we are doing Christmas shopping, and I don't want YOU to see!"

"Whatcha buying for me, Abby, huh? What?"

Abby stuck her tongue out at him. "Come on, Ziva, let's hurry!"

As soon as the girls were in the elevator, McGee turned to Tony. "You know, you actually had a good idea."

Tony looked affronted. "What do you mean 'you actually had a good idea'?! My ideas are always good!"

"Not they ar..."

"So, what was the good idea?" Tony interrupted, not caring to be reminded of all his failed ideas. Tim smiled. "Let's get in some shopping of our own. It's been a hard year for the team, and it is Ziva's first Christmas. Let's make it special."

Tony grinned and slapped McGee on the back. "McSanta, I think that you have some good ideas sometimes too! Let's go to the mall!"

...

Unbeknownst to all four NCIS kids, Gibbs was also at the mall - but not as himself. He was back to being Santa. This time, however, he was not alone, and not because he had captured a wayward agent into being an elf. This time Mrs. Claus was seated by his side. She was looking about as peeved as Ziva had originally, but Gibbs was hoping that she would cheer up a little. After all, he was doing this favour for her in the first place.

"Pull you wig forward," he whispered in her ear. "I don't think Mrs. Claus is known as a redhead."

"Oh, shut up, Jethro," Mrs. Claus snapped back quietly. Gibbs leaned back with a content smile. "Merry Christmas to all mankind ..." He paused, reveling in the knowledge that his companion was bristling. However, he did value his safety. This lady might not be as lethal as Ziva, but she could get her own way. Because of that, he finally added the delayed, "And to all womankind as well."

"Thank you," Mrs. Claus muttered grumpily.

"You're welcome," he mocked in the same tone.

"Don't you have something else that you could be doing?"

"Well, as I was ordered to sit here and pretend that I am Santa Claus over an extended lunch break, while my team does who-knows-what, I guess that I'm just doing what I was told, _ma'am_."

"Hmph!"

Gibbs smiled and decided to lay off his teasing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two sealed envelopes. "These are addressed to Santa. Think I can open them?"

"I don't care what you do. Just stay quiet for five minutes at a time!"

"Ho ho ..."

"Ho! We get it. Now read!"

Gibbs pulled out the first letter. In wide, wild letters, distinctly familiar, was the following:

" _Dear Santa,_

 _This is Abby Scuito, like every year. I always write, in case you are real and just to remember what is was like being a child - although I don't know if my boss actually thinks that I fully grew up. The secret would be that I haven't!_

 _I have had too little caffeine. That's the only explanation for why I feel so strange. No Caf-Pow! since I'm snowed in my apartment with Ziva._

 _Wait - why would people offer Santa milk instead of soda? Soda would give him more energy! When I have kids, we're leaving Caf-Pow! and sugary candy out for Santa. Yep, that way I can eat my favourite treats!_

 _Oh, I was going to make my yearly Christmas wish to see if it comes true, because that's actually what I use these letters for._

 _Would Gibbs kill me if I took another one or two caffeine tablets? I miss my Caf-Pows!_

 _Back to the wishes._

 _I wish that I could have all the Caf-Pow! I desire all year - preferably I'd like a machine for my lab._

 _Actually, scratch that. I have a better Christmas wish. Make that two, although I'm pretty sure that the first one already will come true._

 _I hope that Kate has the best Christmas ever with the angels and that she gets to meet my parents who will take really good care of her._

 _And my second wish is that Ziva will have the best first Christmas possible._

 _So, those were my wishes. I guess I'll see if they come true. Actually, I won't be able too, I guess - I'll know for sure when my caffeine levels level out and I can think more clearly - anyway, I don't really know if this makes any sense, but if you are real, then maybe you'll figure it out. I don't know. I want more soda._

 _Merry Christmas, Santa!_

 _Hugs and kisses,_

 _Abby Scuito_

 _P.S. If you are real and ever need a forensic scientist elf, ask me. By the way, there needs to be a Christmas movie sometime called 'Santa and the Scientist'. It would be a hit!"_

Gibbs grinned at the typical jumble of chatter, wishes, dreams, and caffeine empowerment that was Abby. He tucked the letter back into his coat, close to his heart - right where he held the same two special Christmas wishes.

 _I'll see what I can do to make this Christmas special for you too, my sweet Abby. Even in Christmas wishes, you chose to use your big heart for others. Thank God you came around in time for the holidays!_

Gibbs remembered the other letter, but he was stopped from reading it by a sight that made him simultaneously want to groan and laugh.

There were Tony and McGee, arguing over what Christmas shopping deals were better.

 _Apparently this mall does something to my agents._

"Hey, you two!" he called in his "Santa" voice.

"Hey, Santa," Tony called with a casual wave. "What are you raising money for?"

"Marine families in need this Christmas."

"Great cause," McGee praised, pulling out his wallet. Tony waited to see what McGee pulled out, although the younger agent was trying to be discreet while he asked, "Any suggestions for what young women like for gifts, Mrs. Claus?"

Mrs. Claus gave a few suggestions while "Santa" nodded his thanks for the donation. He did not fail to notice Tony, even more discreetly, slip in a hundred dollar bill.

 _Way to go, Tony. You don't know how happy you just made some family out there going through hard times this Christmas - and how proud you made me!_

"Any wishes for Christmas, boys?"

"A good pen for writing," McGee responded promptly, playing along.

"A girlfriend."

 _Apparently the maturity is in his charity and not in all parts of his brain yet._

"All the best on that," Gibbs said. "Now, if you two are on your lunch break, you'd better head back before your boss finds you gone too long."

"Oh, our boss is away for hours. He'll never know if we're five minutes late."

Mrs. Claus shook with what appeared to be coughing, but Santa had his suspicions.

 _Yep, the maturity still has a ways to go._

McGee looked at his watch. "You know, Tony, he's right. I'm just going to pick up that gift bag for Sarah that I ordered, then I'm heading out to the car."

"Don't bother. I'll go get it and meet you at the door."

"Thanks. Bye, Santa and Mrs. Claus. I hope that you raise enough to help all your recipients."

"Thanks for the donations. Have a nice day."

 _Until I get back!_

"What's so funny, Jen?"

...

Gibbs was back in his car, just getting ready to head back to NCIS when he remembered the other letter. He pulled it out and read the short note.

 _"Dear Santa,_

 _I do not believe that you are real. I am funnying Abby because she has been a nice host and writing will keep her seated for a minute. She is bouncy today._

 _Anyway, I guess that it could not hurt to write out my wishes for my life._

 _First, I would wish that I was a better person. I wish that I was kinder, more open and trusting. Those are impossible. I guess that I really wish that I lived somewhere that I would not have to worry about danger if I did decide to lay down my guard, that I could really trust others to have my back._

 _I wish that I could have a family again. This year is the first that I have none except for my father and he... I love my father but he..._

 _I wish I was not alone. I wish that I had my sister and brother and mother back - the family who loved me. _

_I wish that I had a father who was more like G..._

 _This is stupid. Abby is asking what I wish for so I must write down something that is not serious._

 _Oh, I want a knife to replace the one Gibbs stole from me!_

 _Ziva David_

 _I think that I will burn this at the soonest chance."_

"No, you won't, Ziver, no you won't." **  
**

The paper was folded carefully and placed next to Abby's, but it was not in the same condition as before it was read. One tiny corner was wrinkling from a spot of moisture.

And that only made the letter more precious to its holder.

...

 **I hope that you enjoyed. Please leave a review to let me know your thoughts and ideas on the next chapter. Using my nicknames that I use to remind me who left comments, I was requested by sherry, Eveline, and Hippie to have the girls prank Tony. The next chapter will set up for that. Anyone have good prank ideas? Share them with me - it is safe because I won't be doing on them, so give me your best!**

 **Bashers, you will be deleted. Don't bother.**

 **See all you readers sometime early this week (let's hope for Tuesday!).**


	23. Chapter 23

**Welcome back, everyone! I know, I know - I'm late at posting. Sorry! However, I have started another new story which may brighten your day. It is the sequel to "The Valentine's Chronicles". This one is focused on Easter and it thus named "The Easter Exclusives". If you are interested in more adventures with Abby, check it out (often). She'll be keeping us updated on her schemes! :)**

 **Thanks to the reviewers - sherryola, AmyV24, Hippiechic81, Grumpy Alchemist, DS2010, NaughtyAngelBrat, BohoAngel, and the new Guest who just joined us! Welcome to you!**

 **Enjoy, everyone, and please review when you finish!**

...

It was the Saturday before Christmas and Abby had convinced Ziva to join her with another tradition.

"Now what do I do?" Ziva asked, looking at her sticky fingers with trepidation. "This is goopy."

"Gooey." The correction was offered from under the cupboard where Abby was scavenging for a dish, rattling and crashing items as she searched.

"What's the difference?"

 _The only thing that matters to me right now is getting this mix off my hands!_

Abby poked her head out from under the cupboard.

 _The only thing that matters to me right now is getting Ziva through her first cookie baking experience and finding the cookie sheets!_

"It matters," Abby stated seriously. "It'd take too long to explain, except 'gooey' is good for cookies and 'goopy' would be bad."

"Oh. Than I want gooey cookies off my hands."

"Use flour." Abby passed the bowl - or attempted. Ziva raised her eyebrow and rolled her eyes. "I'll get the bowl dirty."

"Doesn't matter. Everything in this kitchen will be dirty by the end of the day. It's just part of my baking technique."

"My Ima always said that a clean kitchen was necessary for success in cooking," Ziva reminisced. Abby tilted her head.

"Ima?"

Ziva hesitated and bent her head to hide the sadness that blossomed in her eyes. "Hebrew for 'mother'."

"Oh." They stood there in mutual memory of their respective mothers. Abby finally broke the silence, "You know, I bet our mothers would be happy that we're friends."

"I think so too," Ziva smiled, even allowing Abby to hug her. She could not quite stop the involuntary stiffness the action caused, but she was trying - and that was something!

"You know, we need to team up on Tony."

"Why's that?" Ziva was unfazed by Abby's bounce from memories of their deceased mothers to their very much alive co-worker (until the day when he would force her to kill him with her favourite office supplies).

"For the fun of it! Why else would we do it?!"

"I'm on it!"

"In."

"In what?"

"In the plan."

"Okay, I'm in the plan. What will we do?"

"Not sure yet, but it'll be good!" Abby giggled as she blew a puff of flour onto the back of Ziva's head. Just wait until Ziva brushed her hair and it was gray!

"I know what you did!" Ziva grabbed Abby's wrist and the girl screeched while Ziva smeared a bit of the dough on Abby's cheek.

"How did you know?" Abby asked around giggles as she wiped her face with the corner of Ziva's apron.

"Tali used to do that every chance."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah."

"Was she good at pranks?"

Memories of the bright, laughing eyes of the youngest David swirled through Ziva's mind. The pranks had always been done with the pure intention of getting her much-too-serious siblings to laugh when their father was far enough away for it to be safe to enjoy themselves. The jokes had always had their intended affect. Tali had been the only one who could even make Ziva smile through some of those hard times. Even now the memories lightened Ziva's heart.

Ziva spun around and grinned mischievously at her friend. "You're right!"

"I am?"

"Tali had so many good pranks!" _Especially the hundreds that she played on Ari -_ "They would work so well on Tony!"

"Then let's hear them! Grab a cookie cutter - we can work while we talk!"

...

By the time the massive pile of cookies were cooked and decorated and the girls had cleaned Abby's horrendously sticky kitchen, they had created the perfect prank for Tony. They had considered doing it to McGee and Gibbs, but they had been nixed - McGee due to his kindness to Ziva since she arrived, something that she appreciated very much; Gibbs, because neither young woman knew how he would react and Abby was not eager to upset him so close to Christmas. Who knew if a switch would suddenly appear? It was better to be safe than sorry.

"All ready," Abby announced, collapsing onto the couch. "We'll get him good tomorrow!"

Ziva smiled. "This will be fun!"

"So you'll be there to convince him and I'll have the props," Abby outlined the plan.

"Do not worry - I am a very good actor. He will have no idea."

Abby cackled with glee. "You're great, Ziva!"

A tiny finger of warmth touched Ziva's heart. Although she did not particularly care to pin down her emotions, she could not help but enjoy feeling wanted. Even ninjas need love.

...

Gibbs had finished off his final shift - three days - of being Santa Claus. Although he would never admit it to Jen, he had not minded the experience too much. It was nice to see the children smiling, and knowing that he was helping Marines in need made up for any annoyance. But it would be against policy to let her know. Gibbs packed up the costume and placed it in his car, then headed back into the craziness - this time, he was a shopper. He might no longer be wearing the red and white suit, but he was still rather in character.

He started his search at a tiny bookstore and cafe. It had a homey feel, helped along by the scent of specialty coffee grinds. Gibbs bought a large regular black, which seemed out of the ordinary as they repeatedly asked him what grind until the manager finally got the order right. At least it was hot, Gibbs mused. He walked along the aisles, knowing that he would find what he was looking for if he gave his gut a few minutes to ingest some coffee and get back to work. Sure enough, ten minutes later he was leaving with several small packages, gift wrapped as a courtesy offered by the store.

The next store was one that he had never entered before. He stumbled out several minutes later, his head ringing from the pounding music, weird lighting, and the unusual sights that had accosted him.

"Never again," he muttered. But he had found another gift along the way. A few more gulps of coffee sustained him as he continued to the next location.

A Christmas shop that sounded like jingle bells and smelled like candy canes was next, followed by a flower shop. He had already picked up a gift card the previous day from a stop he made on the way home.

"Only three more places, then I am done," Gibbs promised himself, discarding the empty coffee cup. But before continuing, more coffee was a necessity.

The next two stops were successful and Gibbs was rather loaded down with parcels by the time he reached his final store of the night.

"Welcome to Sharp's, sir. How can I help you today?" the sales clerk asked.

"Where are your best knives on display?"

...

 **Only two more chapters! Please leave a review!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Hi! I'm sorry that it has been so long since I updated - so many long days of school! I had two important psychology media analysis reports due yesterday - didn't feel like writing in any of the free moments. :)**

 **This chapter is specifically dedicated to sherryola, Eveline85, and Hippiechic81, all of whom wanted the girls to play some pranks on the boys. Thanks to all who suggested some ideas - didn't quite include all of them, but I appreciated the feedback! Thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter - Eveline85, AmyV24, DS2010, sherryola, Hippiechic81, fiftyshadeswritergal, and Grumpy Alchemist. I loved hearing from each of you!  
**

 **After this chapter, there is only one more chapter. As so, I would love to ask for your feedback for future stories. At the end I will include some questions that I'd love for you to answer if you have a moment after reading. It will help me with future content. :D**

 **...**

"Good morning, Tony!" Ziva called happily as she hurried into work. It was December 23rd and Christmas joy was filling the office, along with the scent of her steaming cup of apple cider.

"You seem cheerful," McGee noted.

"Good morning, McGee. Yes, I am. Abby and I spent the weekend baking and it was very fun," Ziva replied with a smile.

"What did you bake?" Tony asked, immediately alert.

"Cookies - lots and lots of cookies."

"You didn't happen to bring in some of these cookies, did you?" Tony hinted broadly.

"Yes." Tony started to move over to her desk and Ziva shooed him away. "Just not up here. Abby has them. And, no!" Tony paused in his journey toward the elevator. "She is going to bring them up in an hour or so. What is the saying? Patience is virtuous, yes?"

"Patience is a virtue," McGee helped.

"Right, as if you _really_ believe in that!" Tony snorted.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Ziva immediately jumped upon what he said.

"Seriously, Ziva? When are you _ever_ patient? You're nearly as bad as the boss. OUCH!"

Ziva smirked as Tony rubbed the back of his head as Gibbs rushed past to his desk. "Any more arguing over patience, and I'll lose mine," he remarked, grabbing his gun and badge. "Come on, let's go. Let's finish this case up before Christmas Eve."

"That's in less than twenty-four hours, Boss."

"Then get moving!"

...

It was much longer than the anticipated hour and a half before the team was able to grab a quiet moment to sit at there desks. Due to the rush to complete the case - as well as a few hefty Gibbs slaps to keep everyone focused - the day was nearly over before Abby appeared from the lab with the cookie tins.

"Finished the case?"

"Yes," Ziva answered from her chair where she was leaning back, exhausted from their long day. However, a twinkle came to her eye as she spotted the tin in Abby's hand.

The same twinkle was in Abby's eye as she called out, "Who wants a snack?"

"ME!" Tony hollered, gaining the attention of every passing agent. Thankfully, everyone was used to the quirks of Team Gibbs and ignored the group flocking around the strange scientist.

"Here's one for Tony, one for McGee, one for Ziva, and one for me," Abby rhymed in a happy hum, pausing to swat at DiNozzo. "Tony! One at a time is enough! Like it, McGee?"

"Delicious as always, Abs."

"Ziva helped too."

"Well, thanks to you as well, Ziva. These are really ... Tony, you okay?"

Tony was choking. "What is in this?"

"What do you mean?" Abby asked with concern.

"Um, these are ... awful! It's way too salty!" Tony said. Ziva's eyes flashed dangerously as Abby's eyes grew suddenly bright with tears.

Tony gasped a little as Ziva grabbed his tie and dragged him over the desk to look her straight in the eye. "Insult her again and I'll make sure that you never taste another cookie again in your life," she threatened calmly.

Tony gulped as he straightened his tie and backed away.

"Hey, it's okay," Abby tried to soothe Ziva, who was still glaring pitchforks at the unfortunate Tony. "Ziva, he might have gotten a bad one."

"There were no bad ones!" Ziva replied with a tone of superiority.

"Here, Tony, try another," Abby urged. Tony took another.

"Thanks. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Tony apologized. Abby gave him a quick hug and handed him another cookie. He bit into the cookie and a strange look spread over his face.

"Something wrong, Tony?" McGee asked.

Tony slowly chewed on the cookie. "Uh, they're ... crunchy."

"Couldn't be. They aren't supposed to crunch. Try again, Tony," Ziva demanded.

"But these are ... great," Tony said weakly. Abby grabbed his cookie and looked at it. "This one doesn't even have sprinkles, Tony. It can't be crunchy."

Tony tried to be discrete as he spit something into a tissue, but Abby caught him. "Oh, _that's_ where that eggshell went!"

"Must have - and a ... great one it was at that!" Tony replied. He waited until the girls turned away before throwing the cookie into the trash with the eggshell piece. Just as he did so, Abby swung around from replenishing Tim's supply, which were apparently free of all eggshells.

"So sweet of you to finish that - you really didn't have to. Here, have another. We can't leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth," she insisted.

"Sure." Tony took the offered cookie. This time he waited until Abby turned her back before trying to eat the cookie. This time there was no taste of salt or crunchy eggshell. This time he nearly broke his tooth.

"What is this, a stone?" he muttered.

"Abs, I really should stop," McGee protested.

"Just one more, Timmy. Christmas only comes once a year!"

"Okay, I guess I could have another to go with my coffee. These are some of the best cookies I've had in years!" McGee praised. Abby flushed with pride and Ziva looked triumphant. She looked over at Tony, still holding the hard cookie, and narrowed her eyes.

"How is it, Tony?"

"Awesome, Ninja."

"Than why aren't you _eating_ it?"

"Uh, I'm ... well, I'm on my way to check if Ducky's coming tomorrow night to watch the movie. You know what they say - always have a good cookie to eat on the elevator. See you guys in a minute."

"I did not know that was a saying," Ziva murmured reflectively as she stuck her tongue out to capture the one remaining sprinkle on her finger.

"Don't feel bad - neither did I," McGee stated. "I think he's making it up."

"Who's making up what?" Gibbs asked, rushing past. He paused to grab a cookie from Abby's tin.

"Tony jus ... Gibbs!"

"What?"

"Um, uh, you won't ..."

"Won't what, Abs? I'm in a hurry here." He bit into the cookie before Abby could say another word. He paused for a millisecond, then grabbed the file he had been looking for when he first arrived. He paused beside Abby on his way back toward to stairs to the director's office.

"New icing recipe, Abs?"

"Uh, yes, sir?"

"Hope you and Ziva had fun."

Abby grinned mischievously. "We did."

"Good. Now get on home before Tony finds out. See you all back here tomorrow. McGee, you'll tell Tony, will you?"

"Yes, Boss. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Gibbs."

"Night, Gibbs! Remember to bring the candy canes tomorrow - you always get the best kind!" Abby called hopefully after him. He chuckled.

"Don't worry, Abs, you'll get your candy canes."

"Thanks, Gibbs!"

"Now get home, all of you, or you can go to this meeting with the director instead!"

Within seconds the agents and scientist were gone. Gibbs smiled, then looked down at the cookie.

 _The hot pepper "sprinkles" must be from Abby, but I'll bet that the mustard icing was Ziva's idea._

"Hey, Jen, want a cookie?"

...

The two young ladies walked out to their cars together, the tin of cookies now depleted.

"Was he mad?" Ziva whispered, referring to Gibbs. Abby giggled.

"Nope! I think that he found it funny."

"How can you tell?" Ziva asked curiously.

"He didn't scold me and didn't slap you. With Gibbs, that's how you know. Now, pinky promise that you'll NEVER tell Tony." Abby showed Ziva how to pinky promise and the two did so. Ziva saw no point to the ritual, but Abby was insistent. Apparently a promise made with a little finger was sacred.

"I won't! So, did you get the pictures from the hidden cameras?"

"Oh, yes! I can imagine we got some good ones! And Tim was right - the non-prank cookies were the best I've ever had."

Ziva smiled. "You're fake tears were very convincing."

"As were your threats - Tony popped out in sweat when you dragged him over that desk by his tie!"

The two laughed at the remembered prank. This was most definitely a good way to lead into Christmas, Ziva decided. She may not be an expert on the holiday, but she could imagine few things better than laughing with a new friend over a successful prank. If Tali could see from heaven, Ziva had no doubt that she would be laughing as well.

Abby had the same thought, but her "angel above" was Kate - likely not looking like an angel with all the cackling she would be doing at Tony's demise!

"That was great. I don't know how we'll top it next year," Abby admitted, beaming at Ziva and spontaneously reaching out to hug the Israeli. "I'm so glad that you're here."

"Me too."

The hug broke up as Ziva felt a familiar vibration on her hip.

 _Briiiiiing!_

Ziva pulled out her phone and frowned at the number before answering. "Hello? Jenny? Wait - I never sent that cookie to you!"

 **...**

 **Thanks for reading! Please comment! Next chapter is the grand finale - Christmas Eve evening!**

 **If you have a moment, please consider commenting on the following in your review:**

 **1.) What was your favourite moment/chapter in this story?**

 **2.) Who would you like to see as the focus in future stories?**

 **3.) Were there any parts of this story that you would like to see elaborated in the future?**

 **4.) Any prompts or ideas that you would enjoy - I might not use them, but all ideas are welcome!**


	25. Chapter 25

**We are here - the final chapter of "Elves". This was my first "big" story with this account and I want to thank everyone for being so supportive. Special thanks to DS2010, spacekitten2700, Grumpy Alchemist, fiftyshadeswritergal, stareagle, and Hippiechic81.  
**

 **Please review! I'd love to hear any story ideas that you'd like to see in the future. Also, check out my other current stories "The Easter Exclusives" and "Glittery Grumps". I would love to "see" you over there!**

 **Once again, thank you to all those who encouraged me to turn a tiny idea of a run-in with Santa Claus into a story on acceptance, family, trust, and love. Through writing it, I have enjoyed hearing from the commenters and getting to know you in any small way. I appreciate your willingness to interact - that is what fuelled this story!**

 **Enjoy! Love, MaidenMoonshine**

...

"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Merry, merry, merry Christmas!" Abby squealed, rushing across the floor, buckles clinking on her boots, as she threw herself at her friends and family to crush them into particularly loving hugs.

"Merry Christmas, Abs!" Tim greeted her with a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Been into the hot chocolate, huh?" Tony teased, tugging on a ponytail tied back with sparkly holiday ribbon.

"Yep!" She smiled as he gave her a kiss on the top of her head. She turned to Ziva, who was standing to the side rather awkwardly. "Zi, get over here! Merry Christmas!" Ziva moved over to join in the small, happy circle and was enveloped in a hug from Abby. "Come on, boys," Abby demanded. "Group hug!" Ziva was suddenly sandwiched into the middle of a tangle of arms and heads. A tiny memory bubble surfaced of a similar feeling connected to a long-ago Hannukah - it was a good memory.

"Director Shepard, you came?" Abby asked, seeing the director approach in a cute red dress. "Oh, no, we don't have a case, do we?"

"Oh, no, not at all, Abby. Jethro asked me if I would like to join your group." She paused and looked at the surprised agents. "If that ... is all right?"

"Oh, yes! Yes! That's great!" Abby hurried over and hugged the director who seemed just as surprised by the action as Ziva had been. However, this time Abby decided against a group hug. Perhaps it would not be exactly appropriate.

"Ziva," Jen said, turning to the Israeli young woman. "That cookie yesterday?"

"I did not send it to you!" Ziva protested as Jen leveled a stern look on her. "It was not my fault!"

"Relax, Ziva," Jen said, reaching out to brush a strand out of hair out of her face. "I know, I was just teasing you. Whatever you and Abby did with it, it definitely was the worst cookie I've ever tried in my life."

"You are not upset?" Ziva asked.

"Not at all. Merry Christmas, my sweet girl," she said, gently squeezing Ziva's hand.

"You came, Jen," said a familiar voice from the director of the elevator.

"GIIIIIIIIBBBBS!" Abby ran over as fast as she could and hugged her father figure. "Merry Christmas, Daddy!" she whispered in his ear, partly joking but mostly serious.

Gibbs gave her the third kiss of the night and whispered back to her. "Merry Christmas, daughter." He looked up at the others, all watching him and Abby hopefully.

"Get over here," he ordered roughly but with a gentle undertone. Tony and Tim came over with smiles.

"Merry Christmas, Boss."

"Yeah, merry Christmas!"

Gibbs pulled the two of them into a manly hug with a slap on the back to ward off any appearance of going soft. He looked up at Jenny.

"Jen, glad you're here," he said softly with the special smile he always saved for her. She willing stepped forward and hugged him, much to the secret delight of his team.

"Merry Christmas, Jethro," she replied with a smile.

Gibbs turned to the only silent member so far. "Ziva, am I going to get a Christmas hug from you?" he asked gently. She nodded a tiny bit, yet held back a little. Gibbs stepped forward and watched her reaction carefully, not wanting to push her if she did not feel comfortable with affection. She seemed relaxed so he gently pulled her into a tight, warm hug. She rested in his secure love for a few seconds before pulling back. It was going to be awhile before she learned to accept love without putting walls - but at least she had made a start.

"Merry Christmas, my dear friends," Ducky called as he stepped out of the elevator, arms filled with brightly wrapped parcels.

"Yeah, merry Christmas!" Jimmy echoed from behind, holding a sack. "Where would you like this, doctor?"

"Let's head up to MTAC and let the fun begin!" Tony suggested, which was quickly seconded by the other "kids". Jenny, Jethro, and Ducky followed at a slightly slower pace, still enjoying the childlike joy of four of their young co-workers. One face, however, caught all of their attentions as rather pensive.

"My dear Ziva, are you feeling unwell?" Ducky inquired, gently wrapping his arm around the girl as she fell behind the others as they rushed up the stairs.

"Oh, no, Ducky, I am fine," she insisted.

"Then why the quietness and sober face? It is custom to be full of mirth on Christmas Eve."

Ziva looked around at the others, then quietly confessed to her caring friend, "I do not belong here. I am not the same as the others."

"Why, what could you mean?!" Ducky exclaimed. "You are as much part of the team as any of the others."

Ziva looked at him doubtfully. "If you say it," she said dubiously.

"Now, what is really holding you back?" Ducky pressed with the patience of a counselor, despite the signals for him and Ziva to hurry to join the others who were waiting for them before entering MTAC.

"This is ... more than a team," Ziva finally said.

"Yes ... yes, it is," Ducky agreed, still not seeing a problem until he caught a glimpse of the shadow of uncertainty in Ziva's eyes. With that he stopped and gently turned her to look him in the eye. "Ziva, you are a part of our family too. Ever since you arrived you have brought something so special to us. It may have taken time, but we all love you dearly."

Apparently, it would take even more time for that message to fully sink into the Israeli's consciousness.

She gave him a polite smile, one that just skimmed the surface of her face but did not touch even the tip of her beautiful soul. It made Ducky's kind heart ache to see the detachment. Somewhere along the line this girl had been hurt. He did not know where, when, or all the details, but he knew without a doubt what the results were.

 _If only you knew, dear girl, the depths of love waiting for your here. You may be new, but already you have somehow made your way into the lives and hearts of so many. If only we could convince you. That would be my Christmas wish._

Ducky settled for placing his arm around her waist and escorting her to the door where the others were waiting.

"Come, everyone, let us enjoy an NCIS traditional _family_ Christmas _all_ together, shall we?"

"We shall!" Abby cheered. "Now, will someone let us in?"

The doors opened on a beautiful scene. Abby sucked in her breath, Jen and Ducky looked surprised, and the boys were startled by the sparkly Christmas lights decorating the space. Gibbs kept a stoic expression, as per normal.

But Ziva?

Ziva was entranced. There, at the front of the room, were a row of stockings, just like she had seen in decorations and on the front of Christmas cards. She had gathered that families hung stockings together to hold their gifts.

And there, right in front of her, was a stocking bearing her name. Not only that, but it was nestled in the middle of a whole row of stockings. Ducky, Jen, Tony, Tim, Ziva, Abby, Jimmy, Gibbs.

Her name. There in the middle.

"Oh, look, stockings!" shouted Abby.

"Wait until midnight," Gibbs interrupted her wild dash toward the presents. She gave him an exaggerated pouting face, then giggled.

"I know, I know, wait until Christmas. But I wonder who they're from?" She looked around at everyone.

Tony laughed. "Nice try, Abs. Only you would think of such a thing."

"Didn't someone do this?" Abby asked, proceeding to question everyone. When she reached Gibbs, he answered drily.

"Santa."

"Oh." She paused, then brightened. "OH!" He gave her a stern look, which he copied in Ziva's direction and Jen's immediately after - clearly, there was a warning to keep his secret.

"Must have been," Jen replied with a smile. "Now, how about some apple cider and cookies?"

"Yum! Hey, Gibbs, did you remember the candy canes?"

"Yes."

"Great! I want one to stir my apple cider!"

"Why?"

"Minty apple cider is the best?"

"YUCK!" said everyone else.

...

The movie passed in a comfortable blur, filled with snacks and laughter. The credits rolled, the time ticked down, and suddenly there was a blur of colour and ...

"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" Abby shrieked. "Gift time!"

It did not take long for the room to turn into mayhem. Ducky handed out his parcels with kind words for each recipient; McGee and Tim gave the girls their promise to take them to any restaurant and show they chose in January; the director passed around boxes of chocolates with heartfelt thanks - although her gift to a certain L.J. Gibbs was a little bit larger.

"What is this?" Ziva asked, having a small box shoved into her hands by the very hyper Miss Scuito.

"Open it!" Abby demanded.

Ziva did and pulled out a small ornament. It was shaped like a gingerbread man cookie and was "decorated" with icing trimming, sprinkles, and the words "First Christmas".

"It was hard to find one that wasn't too babyish," Abby admitted. "I hope that it is okay."

"I love it," Ziva declared. "I will use it to always help me remember" - she paused and glanced at Tony to make sure he was out of hearing range before continuing - "my first time making Christmas cookies as well."

Abby giggled. "But it won't be the last!"

"I did not know what to get for gifts, but I got this for you," Ziva offered quietly. Abby scooped up the small chain with the shiny obsidion pendant in the shape of a cross. "I know it is not what you normally choose, but it reminded me of you for some reason."

"I love it," Abby declared. She crushed Ziva was another hug - too many more of those and she was seriously going to have bruised ribs!

"I will use it for when I can't wear my chokers," Abby was declaring. "I'll wear it when I go to court. Now I finally have pretty jewelry that I can wear that is still _me_ without scaring lawyers or fancy higher-ups!"

"But you do not like your court outfits," Ziva said softly, sad that her well-planned gift was already relegated to that fate. But that thought was soon vanquished with Abby's firm statement.

"No, I don't, but don't you see? This will make it better! You're right - I do love it. It is very much my style, just without the parts of my style that scare people. I didn't mean I'll just wear it at court - I mean that it is one of the few things that I _can_ wear in court. You're an awesome friend, Ziva - that's what _I'll_ always remember with this!"

"You do not scare me," Ziva said, happy once again that her friend loved the gift.

"You don't really scare me either. Now, please help me put it on!"

There were tons of other packages, big and small, serious and humourous. But above all, the stockings were the favourites.

"A whole case of new pens and the entire series of books that I've been wanting to read, along with a gift card to the bakery near my house!" McGee exclaimed. "Whoever got these for me, thanks! I love them!"

"Woah! A note saying that 'Santa can't provide a girlfriend, but all the best!' along with gift cards to several fancy restaurants and a flower shop. And my favourite cologne! Ladies, here I come!" Tony celebrated his gifts.

"Hmm, someone knows me," Jen muttered, looking meaningfully in a certain direction as she pulled out a beautiful leather-bound planner and organizer along with a golden fountain pen.

"Bagpipe music and several history books on Scotland. Oh, and tins of different teas, as well as a big one of my favourite. Bless the soul who gave me these," Ducky mumbled happily.

"A pocket knife - now Agent Gibbs won't get annoyed at me for not having one on me at all times," Jimmy crowed.

Seated next to each other, the two "kids" with the best idea of Santa's true identity unwrapped their stocking gifts. Abby and Ziva took turns exclaiming over the presents, amazed at the taste and goodwill hidden under the tissue paper.

"Oh, my goodness!" Abby exclaimed as the classy choker fell out of the black tissue paper. The thin red collar had a delicate golden pattern laid over the top. It was beautiful. A tear came to her eye. She knew exactly where this had come from - her favourite store. Knowing that "Santa" had braved all that for her warmed her already warm heart even more.

"This is so nice," Ziva whispered, turning the small golden ring in the palm of her hand. Besides her Magen David necklace she rarely wore jewelry, but this tiny ring with a dove on it spoke to her. Peace. It was something that both Israel and she herself longer for - and this ring would remind her to always seek it.

Abby unwrapped her next gift. A tiny angel nightlight, more like a bright sparkling fairy than an angel, was revealed.

"Kate," Abby mumbled softly, tears softening her eyes. Ziva reached out and awkwardly placed her hand on her back. Abby took a moment to remember, then cleared her throat. "Your turn, Ziva. What did you get?"

Ziva turned back to her gift and pulled out her next item. A smile graced her lips as she realized what she was holding. "A knife."

"Another one?"

"Not just another one - this is one of the best," Ziva explained, examining the new weapon. She had no doubt that this one was safe from confiscation. She flipped open the blade and felt the sharpness. "I love it." She immediately slipped it into her pocket.

 _Thank you, Gibbs._

"Oh, I have something else," Abby laughed. "Oh, two somethings! Candy and ... Ziva, look! Elf earrings!" She pulled out the tiny jingle bell earrings and immediately put them in to show off to her friends. Ziva laughed as Abby shook her head and made them jingle.

"Look what I got!" Ziva pulled out a package of gingersnaps and a scarf with a gingerbread man pattern.

 _Jingle. Gingersnap. Of course._ _Just wait a second and ... yes!_

Ziva nudged Abby and they both watched Gibbs.

Gibbs picked up his stalking. It had been a decoy, filled with a few items that he bought himself just to keep the others from guessing that the grumpy old boss was responsible for their presents. Of course, that had partially been ruined by the fact that he had a Mrs. Claus and two elves in the room, but the others seemed to be clueless. And as Jen and neither of the girls were complaining about their presents, he felt fairly safe.

 _What's this? I don't remember this._

One package was wrapped in simple brown paper, tied with a piece of twine jaggedly cut with what he assumed was a knife. Inside was a big bag of his favourite grind of coffee - which he just so happened to be low on, not having been able to find it within the pre-Christmas rush at the mall.

 _Bless whoever got this - and I think I have a good idea._

Gibbs pulled out another tiny package. Mini bats carrying mistletoe. Yes, he knew who owned this wrapping paper.

"Best Boss" read the custom keychain. He rolled his eyes. He was under no illusions that he was the best - he just was tough on his team and then loved them just as hard to make up for it. Then he flipped the small pendant. The other side read "And Best Santa - Love the Elves". He smiled to himself at that. A glance over toward a corner met with two sets of eager eyes - one brown, one green.

"Come over here you two," he ordered softly. The two made their way around the mess and present contents scattered over the floor to stand by Gibbs' side. He gently pulled each of them into a hug, pressing a kiss first to Abby's forehead, then, more slowly in case of rejection, to Ziva's. The Mossad officer permitted the quick caress.

 _Maybe some Christmas will really start to come true this year - I really hope that they do!_ Gibbs pondered, before whispering to his girls.

"Thank you, Elves, thank you. And a merry Christmas to everyone! Ho ho ho ho!"

 **The End**


End file.
